Iowa is one of many states that has an increasingly shrinking transportation system. Iowa is currently spending millions to repair or replace four downtown bridges in Des Moines as well as expand the last section of U.S. Highway 20.
However, rural areas across states like Iowa and Louisiana are experiencing dwindling attention from transportation agencies. Rural communites feel their state transportation agencies are favoring large cities over rural areas.
In Louisiana, for example, college students continue to use closed bridge to get to campus, despite warnings that it could collapse.
Farmers in particular are affected by the crumbling infrastructure surrounding their property, which forces them to drive miles out of the way to reach their fields.
In King County, Wash., more than $3 billion is being spent to replace an elevated highway in Seattle with a tunnel carrying a double-deck roadway. In unincorporated areas, however, officials have closed three bridges and are struggling to maintain 1,500 miles of road.
