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Branstad approves gas tax hike in Iowa

As expected, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad has approved the bill increasing the state’s gas tax by a dime a gallon.

“I know it’s not easy and I know that there are also people who feel strongly on the other side,” Branstad told reporters, “but there is a critical need for additional funding for our roads and bridges in the state of Iowa.”

Iowa Farm Bureau supports the fuel tax increase, calling it a necessary step to improve the state’s deteriorating roads and bridges. But Farm Bureau president Craig Hill says the improvements won’t happen overnight.

“Some of the bridges will still remain in the condition they are and will be embargoed—and many of our roads will not be upgraded,” Hill says. “It’s going to take time. It will take years and years. But it’s a beginning and hopefully, in five or ten years, we’ll see the benefits of this.”

The fuel tax increase is expected to generate more than 200 million dollars annually. Hill says the added funding will help reverse a trend that has seen 30 counties bond for over 208 million dollars to pay for critical needs of Iowa’s infrastructure.

According to a recent report from a national transportation research group called TRIP, Iowa has over five-thousand structurally deficient bridges. It rated Iowa’s rural roads as 13 percent poor and 45 percent mediocre to fair.

Radio Iowa contributed to this story.