Dubuque County bridges among Iowa DOT’s 5-year funding priorities

A draft plan by the Iowa Department of Transportation includes funding for numerous highway and bridge projects in and around Dubuque County in the coming years. The Iowa DOT recently presented the Iowa Transportation Commission with the draft Fiscal Year 2026-2030 Iowa Transportation Improvement Program, an annually updated five-year plan pertaining to construction projects on all interstate, U.S. and Iowa routes.  In Dubuque County, the draft program allocates nearly $40 million in funding across the next five fiscal years for road improvements. The draft program would allocate $7.5 million for rehabilitation of the Julien Dubuque Bridge in fiscal year 2026. The following year, it would allocate $4.5 million for rehabilitation of the Dubuque-Wisconsin bridge. Illinois and Wisconsin would provide equal funding, respectively, for each project. Also among the proposals is just under $4 million in fiscal year 2027 for bridge deck overlay on the U.S. 61 overpass near Fourth, Fifth and White streets. Two bridge replacements in Dubuque County are also included in the draft — the Catfish Creek railroad bridge on Dodge Street in Dubuque’s West End, for which about $5.57 million is budgeted in fiscal year 2026, and the replacement of the North Fork Maquoketa River bridge on U.S. 20 in Dyersville, for which about $6.35 million is budgeted in fiscal year 2028.