Butler County board adopts $28 million five-year roads plan, approves submission to Iowa DOT

The Butler County Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 2002-2024 on April 9 to approve the county’s FY25 Secondary Roads Budget and a Five-Year Secondary Roads Construction Program, a package the county engineer said lists roughly $28 million in planned projects.

John Riherd, Butler County engineer, reviewed the proposed budget and program with the board and said he uses a bridge list produced by a third-party structural analysis firm to help prioritize which bridges are included in the five-year schedule. "Construction continues on multiple projects," Riherd said during his update.

The resolution notes that Iowa Code requires the county to approve and submit the Department of Transportation Secondary Road Budget and Five-Year Construction Program annually and cautions that differences between the county budget and the program must be reconciled by amending the program if necessary. On a motion by Supervisor Greg Barnett, seconded by Supervisor Rusty Eddy, the board approved the resolution and authorized its submission to the Iowa Department of Transportation; a roll-call vote was recorded as unanimous.

Why it matters: the five-year program sets priorities for county secondary road and bridge work and guides DOT funding and planning for local projects. The roughly $28 million of projects listed in the program represent county road, bridge and related work that will be scheduled, designed and constructed over multiple years, subject to available funding and any future amendments.

What’s next: the board’s approval sends the program to the Iowa Department of Transportation for review; the resolution also instructs that if the adopted county budget later differs from the adopted program, the board will amend the program to match the county budget.

Provenance: The discussion and approval appear in the meeting record beginning with SEG 002 and continuing through SEG 004.