First on decorahnews.com: Inspections of Winneshiek County bridges find 34 bridges with serious problems

An inspection of 189 of Winneshiek County's bridges has just been completed—and the news isn't very good.  Winneshiek County Engineer Lee Bjerke says the county hired a structural engineer to inspect the bridges and make recommendations to the county.

While the consultant did not recommend any immediate bridge closings, he listed 34 of the 189 bridges—nearly 20 percent of the total—as having problems that need to be dealt with.

Bjerke says fixing the bridge problems will have "a major impact" on the county's five-year road plan.  That's because fixing bridge problems tends to be more immediate than repairing or replacing deteriorating roads.

Winneshiek County is already facing big problems in funding of road projects.  Bjerke says it's quite possible that some of the road projects which had been questionable because of funding issues now will be delayed because the county will have to spend money on bridge repairs first.