An $8.3 million bid was approved Tuesday by the Washington County Board of Supervisors for a long-awaited bridge project on McKain’s Bridge on Dogwood Avenue. 

The Federal Highway Administration awarded $38,640,000 for the Building Bridges Today Helping Feed America Tomorrow project that will remove and replace seven bridges in poor condition in six Iowa counties. The Washington project was estimated to cost around $9.2 million. 

Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius explains more on the project, “Back in April, on Tuesday the 21st, we had bids received at the DOT. The DOT opened those bids and then we sent them to all of the additional counties to review, and approve the bids from their standpoint. It comes to Washington County because we are the lead agency on the grant. We are the lead agency on the grant and the project, so everything will run through our office. Even though we are dealing with other counties, they will handle their own bridge. Really not a whole lot different than any other project other than our name gets to go first. But they all came back and approved it, so that was from Buchanan, Cedar, Hamilton, Jones and Monroe counties to use these funds and award the contract to the low bidder.” 

Four bids for this project came in and the lowest bid was $37,426,529.79 from Peterson Contractors Inc. from Reinbeck. The project estimate for all of the bridges was around $45 million. Thorius will be working with the other counties to figure out how to use the rest of the grant funds that were awarded. 

The bridges bundled in this project are described as providing critical linkages for the transport of grain and livestock from farms to markets throughout the region. These funds were announced in the fall of 2025. 

The estimated late start date for the McKain’s bridge project, according to Thorius, is May 10, 2027.