According to the most recent National Bridge Inspection Standards (NBIS) listing, there are approximately 25,000 bridges across the State of Iowa, and about 10% of them are timber bridges.

Of those approximately 2,500 timber bridges in Iowa, a significant portion are either in disrepair or don’t meet current standards. Furthermore, there are an additional 46,000 timber bridges nationwide, many that are over 60 years old. So, it’s no surprise why those two topics—timber bridges and health monitoring—make up the core of the programs hosted by the Bridge Engineering Center.