Some bridges in Idaho are a century old. A proposal by Gov. Little could finally fix them
A one-lane bridge in Caldwell, built in 1922, needs replacement. An aging bridge outside Nampa can’t get federal funding. And a century-old bridge east of Lewiston waited decades before the county won enough federal money to fix it.
For years, local cities, counties and highway districts have struggled with maintaining their bridges. Now, local governments and transportation advocates across Idaho are praising Gov. Brad Little’s recent budget proposal to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the state’s chronically underfunded road and bridge network.
The plan bucks a past trend of spending the majority of state general fund dollars designated for transportation on large projects within the state’s jurisdiction, rather than advancing a more proportional amount to the local system.
“This is an unprecedented level of one-time funding for transportation projects,” Seth Grigg, executive director of the Idaho Association of Counties, said in a phone interview. The nonprofit organization advocates on behalf of counties throughout Idaho — among the scores of local municipalities jockeying for more state funding.
On top of education and tax cuts, Little has put forth the plan to spend a portion of the state’s anticipated $1.9 billion year-end surplus on road and bridge repairs. The governor’s commitment to dedicate the money from the state’s general fund would direct more income, sales and corporate taxes to transportation.
The Idaho Legislature, which will have the final say on the first-term Republican governor’s budget proposal, has historically been reluctant to tap general fund dollars for transportation. It’s the second consecutive year Little has requested big boosts to transportation funding using general fund revenues.
Unlike last year, however, the plan would see local governments receive the largest share of the funds — an investment those jurisdictions say is needed to address the prior imbalance, which has proved a barrier to completing local projects. Meanwhile, Idaho’s population continues to rapidly grow, placing even greater stress on its aging transportation system.
Gov. Little proposes infusion of funds into local bridges
In his State of the State address earlier this month, Little proposed an additional $400 million in state funds be dedicated to roads and bridges. That follows last year’s $206 million state infrastructure package, championed by Little and passed by the Legislature.
This year’s recommended total includes a $200 million ongoing allocation toward long-term maintenance, split 60-40 between the state and local governments. In other words, $120 million would go toward state projects directed by the Idaho Transportation Department, and $80 million would be distributed to cities, counties and local highway districts.
The other $200 million is a one-time pot of funds to repair or replace bridges overseen by local jurisdictions that are in the poorest shape, often based on age. That dollar figure represents one-third of the estimated cost to upgrade all 500-plus bridges across the state that meet the condition threshold, according to the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council.
By comparison, the Idaho Transportation Department, which has received the bulk of past infrastructure dollars, estimated its unfunded needs for the smaller bridge network under its responsibility at about $160 million, according to an ITD spokesperson.
The local bridge projects would be approved by the Idaho Transportation Board and administered through the Local Highway Technical Assistance Council, a public agency that assists the state’s smaller municipalities fund transportation projects. In a typical year, the agency helps advance about $7 million in federal dollars toward local bridge upgrades, allowing for replacement or major repairs of just a few projects each cycle, Administrator Laila Kral said.
“That federal funding for locals is limited,” Kral told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview. “We get about two to three bridges constructed a year with that money. It’s led to the condition that we’re in now.”
Like many U.S. states, Idaho is now playing catch-up on its critical transportation network — particularly on often underfunded local infrastructure. If approved by the Legislature, the one-time state dollars would target projects “most in need based on an application process,” said Alex Adams, head of Little’s budget-writing Division of Financial Management, in an email to the Statesman.
Caldwell’s Old Highway 30 Bridge, for example, was built in 1922 and has provided a link between Caldwell and Middleton across the Boise River and allowed cars to bypass Interstate 84. It’s a one-lane bridge, meaning only vehicles traveling in one direction can cross at a time.
City and highway district officials have been eyeing a bridge replacement there for years, but the cost keeps rising. The current estimate is $26 million, said Brent Orton, Caldwell’s public works director — almost three times the city’s annual street fund.
Just in recent weeks, a half-dozen bridges across the state were load-posted, or weight restricted for safety considerations, according to Nick Veldhouse, executive director of the Idaho Association of Highway Districts, a nonprofit advocacy group.
“Our aging infrastructure has reached the critical point … where Gov. Little’s proposal is absolutely necessary for the safety and mobility of all Idahoans,” Veldhouse told the Statesman by email.
Idaho plays catch-up on bridge fixes, struggles with growth
Idaho is the fastest-growing state for several years running, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. And with greater population comes greater infrastructure needs.
And yet, the state is already behind, one of the most recent reviews of its infrastructure system shows, with special focus paid to its roads and bridges. In 2018, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the Gem State an overall grade of C-minus, citing a need to address the state’s deferred maintenance backlog, and also keep up with the year-over-year explosion in population.
Idaho received even lower marks — a D, making for its lowest grade in the national engineers group’s report — for the condition of its network of bridges.
In 2010, then-Gov. Butch Otter formed a task force to identify Idaho’s infrastructure needs, tapping Little — at that time the state’s lieutenant governor — to oversee the process. The effort found Idaho to have a total revenue shortfall of $543 million per year toward bridge maintenance and repairs.
In turn, the Idaho Legislature in 2015 raised the gas tax by 7 cents, increased vehicle registration fees and added for the first time fees for electric and hybrid vehicles, directing those funds to the state and local municipalities for road and bridge projects. However, even with the additional dollars, Idaho’s annual shortfall for bridge infrastructure investments remains at $450 million or more, ASCE reported.
The state counts about 4,500 bridges, according to the ASCE. Of those, more than half — nearly 2,500 bridges — fall within local jurisdictions that often lack the resources to properly maintain or make overdue upgrades. The remaining bridges primarily sit along the state highway system and are managed by the Idaho Transportation Department, with the final 270 bridges owned and overseen by a mix of federal agencies, ASCE reports.
Nearly a third of the local bridges are at least 50 years old, which represents the intended life of most such infrastructure built during the 20th century, according to ASCE. In addition, almost half of the bridges on the state highway system are now also beyond that useful lifespan.
In 2018, repairs needed on more than 1,500 were estimated to cost $2.2 billion. The amount has gone up since that time.
“The aging of Idaho bridges is of concern,” the ASCE report states. “While structurally deficient bridges are not unsafe for the traveling public, the rating indicates that a bridge is in need of maintenance, rehabilitation, or sometimes replacement.”
About 400 bridges in Idaho, or roughly 9% of its overall total, were defined as structurally deficient in ASCE’s study. That percentage was nearly identical to the average across the U.S. in 2017.
Last year’s state infrastructure package included $80 million dedicated to the Idaho Transportation Department for its large infrastructure projects along the state highway system, with any excess sales tax revenues, estimated at about $4 million, left over for local governments toward road and bridge needs. An additional one-time, $126 million allocation was divided between the state and local governments, with nearly $73 million dedicated to ITD, and about $47 million to a fund for local highways.
Based on inspections, more than 500 are now labeled in poor condition or weight-restricted out of concern for public safety, Kral said. That places them on the priority list with the revamped formula for state funding earmarked by Little and awaiting the Legislature’s approval.
“Bridges are an expensive asset,” Kral said. “The one-time shot of funds, assuming it’s passed, will be greatly appreciated, and we’ll get a lot done with that money.”
Federal infrastructure package provides some aid
Outside Nampa, an aging bridge carries Northside Boulevard over Fifteenmile Creek. Canyon Highway District No. 4, which oversees the roads in that area, has applied three times for federal funds to replace the bridge. Each application was unsuccessful.
Tim Richard, director of Canyon Highway District No. 4, said Little’s proposal will fill funding gaps for bridges like the one over Fifteenmile Creek and provide “a reliable funding mechanism” for local jurisdictions.
“For many districts, including ours, the impacts of rapid growth on roads and bridges is a major concern that we need tools to deal with,” Richard told the Statesman by email.
Local governments rely heavily on federal grants to secure funding for bridges. In addition, many of those applications require matching dollars that they don’t have to compete for the grants — locking many out from the get-go.
Nez Perce County for decades pushed for federal funds to replace a century-old, single-lane bridge across the Clearwater River, east of Lewiston. In the meantime, the bridge was structurally deficient and weight-restricted, the Lewiston Tribune reported. After five years of failed applications, the county finally won a $16 million grant to replace the Cherrylane Bridge in 2018.
There are another half-dozen bridges throughout Nez Perce County that are close to being structurally deficient, said County Commissioner Douglas Zenner, who helped push through the grant for Cherrylane. Three of the aging bridges are single-lane. The height clearance on another is too low, and logging trucks have to take an indirect route to avoid it. Federal or state assistance is needed to fix the issues.
“That’s the only way you can afford to do them,” Zenner said.
Aside from the proposed infusion of state dollars, Idaho will also get its portion of federal money through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Idaho’s two U.S. senators supported and two U.S. representatives opposed. About $72 million will go to highways, with another $45 million to bridges. Local jurisdictions will see $6.75 million of those dedicated federal bridge funds, while the Idaho Transportation Department will receive the majority — more than $38 million.
“There are hundreds of bridges in Idaho on the state and local systems that need this funding,” Aubrie Spence, an ITD spokesperson, told the Statesman by email. “The combined total of new federal and state resources for bridges and transportation as a whole will make a truly major impact on our ability to provide efficient movement of commerce across the state and enhance safety and quality of life for Idahoans.”
Officials with the governor’s office downplayed the federal funds in favor of his state funding proposal. The “short-term federal funding” will help clear out the maintenance backlog, said Adams, Little’s budget chief, “but the governor’s plan ensures that the state has long-term funding.”
“The governor noted in his State of the State address that Idaho needs to solve its own transportation problem and not look to Washington, D.C.,” he added.
Without state or federal assistance, cities, counties and highway districts must sock away money or raise property taxes for bridge repairs and replacement.
For a small jurisdiction, saving for a small bridge — one that costs, say, $1 million — could take a decade, said Grigg, the Idaho Association of Counties director. And local governments are restricted on how much they can increase property taxes — more so now after a law that passed last year capped the amount they can increase budgets to account for growth.
The city of Caldwell — population 60,000 — will collect about $9 million this year for its street fund, which comprises revenues from property taxes and its share of state sales and fuel tax collections, said Orton, the city’s public works director. Almost none of that revenue is left over for large projects after regular road maintenance costs and small repairs and replacements.
In addition to the Old Highway 30 Bridge, Caldwell’s 10th Avenue bridge, which spans the railroad, is in need of foundational repairs. It’s weight-restricted, and large trucks can’t use it to traverse a direct route between Interstate 84 and downtown Caldwell. The city also hopes to repair smaller bridges over Indian Creek that are aging out, Orton said by phone.
“It would be a big help to have the bridge program have an infusion of additional money that would allow us to do more things,” he said.
In the last decade, the Legislature has approved hikes in fuel tax and registration fee collections, but those increases are rare and difficult to pass, Grigg said. The governor’s proposal would be equivalent to “a massive fuel tax increase,” he said.
“Hopefully that will help us,” Grigg said, “over the next few years, get our roads up to par — to where we don’t have the potholes, we don’t have the damage, we don’t have the load-posted bridges. We can keep this economy growing.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
