The State Transportation Commission has given final approval to the updated five-year transportation improvement program.
The program will spend three-point-four billion dollars on state roadways. That includes the reconstruction work on the interstate systems in Council Bluffs and Sioux City — as well as a section of I-35 from Ankeny to Ames. The plan calls for the completion of the final segment of the four lane expansion of U-S 20 in western Iowa by the fall. Four-lane improvements on U-S 30 in Tama and Benton County and on U-S 61 in southeast Iowa are also in the plan. The plan has one billion dollars targeted at bridge repairs. The state had 51 bridges listed as structurally deficient in 2017.