Hamilton County Supervisors Mary Clausen and Rick Young, seated, review the agreements for the Williams Overpass Bridge project Tuesday. Key people involved with getting the funding in place for the project include, standing, from left: Matt Rector, Jim Oberhelman, Dan Culhane, Ryan Weidemann and Greg Picklap.

There was a lot of thankfulness expressed during the Hamilton County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. In fact, Supervisor Chairman Rick Young heaped praise on Hamilton County Engineer Ryan Weidemann, who has worked relentlessly to move the Williams Overpass project forward.

As Weidemann explained the history of the Williams Overpass bridge project, he also announced that the county has received federal funding up to $4.97 million for it.

“It’s delightful news,” Young said.

The supervisors approved the plans, specifications and funding agreements shortly after Weidemann’s presentation.

The bridge was rated poor in terms of national standards. Its reconstruction will include widening the road from 24 to 40 feet, which is expected to significantly improve safety for traffic entering or exiting Williams, said Weidemann.

The bridge was transferred to the county jurisdiction by the Iowa Department of Transportation in 2008. At that time the DOT agreed to provide some maintenance funds as part of the package when U.S. Highway 20 was opened.

Weidemann was quick to say this was a necessary part of the plan.

“An important part was the help from the Iowa DOT Local Systems,” he said. “They do a great job of advocating for small towns.”

The new federal grant is critical to move forward, he said. He had projected that just this one bridge would have eaten up more than 10 years’ worth of the Hamilton County bridge replacement funds.

A 20% match, which is being shared by Hamilton County and the City of Williams, was a critical step. The two governmental entities secured $1 million through the Iowa DOT City Bridge Fund Program, in addition to $1.2 million in Local Option Sales Tax and Farm to Market funds.

Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t a complete surprise. Key partners who assisted in moving the grant forward were on hand to congratulate Weidemann. They included Dan Culhane, president and chief executive officer of the Ames Regional Economic Alliance,; Matt Rector, with U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley’s office; Jim Oberhelman, with U.S. Congressman Randy Feenstra’s office; and Greg Picklap, director for Economic Development and Public Policy for the Ames Regional Economic Alliance.

Through the collaboration of six counties, the group was able to apply for the federal grant called “Building Bridges Today Helping Feed America Tomorrow.”

Those six counties, including Hamilton, Buchanan, Cedar, James, Monroe and Washington, were awarded $38 million.

Nearly $5 million will go to the construction of the new Williams Overpass Bridge.

The 93-year-old bridge spans the railroad and is a key farm-to-market road. Originally built in 1932, it was repaired in 1975 and 1993. It is considered a critical link in connecting residents, rural communities, businesses and emergency responders.

Thus, its replacement is critical.

This was the third attempt to secure funds to assist with the project, which was started in 2020 when the bridge was rated poor and triggered a concern for safety.

“We started working on this five years ago, and we started trying to find ways to fund it,” Young confirmed.

Weidemann said, “I started working for Hamilton County in 2019. We started on this project in 2020. What really got this moving is that we got a call from the Iowa County Engineers Association with the idea to combine with other counties. For the first two applications we had seven counties in the model.”

After the first two efforts to bring funding to the county for the project failed, the third application made the cut, with a high recommendation for funding.

Weidemann reached out to Ottie Maxey, of the Ames Regional Economic Development Alliance, for help. Maxie, who was not present at Tuesday’s meeting, met with Picklap and staff from both Feenstra and Grassley’s offices to advocate for the project.

Weidemann praised the coordination of these meetings.

“It became a challenge for me to find a conduit to get to decision makers,” he said. “Ottie really jumped into action and already had ideas. Ottie and Greg stepped in to know who to talk to.”

Picklap said, “The work done previously was the ‘secret sauce.'”

Culhane agreed. “Teamwork is what it is all about, I’m very happy for the county.”

The project is scheduled to be out for contract letting in the spring of 2026. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2026 or 2027.