Sutliff Bridge

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Sutliff Bridge

| nrhp_type =

| image = Sutliff bridge Iowa.jpg

| caption = Sutliff Bridge after 2008 flooding

| nearest_city = Sutliff, Iowa

| location = Sutliff Road over Cedar River

| coordinates = {{coord|41|50|23|N|91|23|33|W|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = Iowa#USA

| area =

| built = 1897

| architect = G. W. Wynn; Jones & Laughlin Company

| architecture =

| added = May 15, 1998

| mpsub = Highway Bridges of Iowa MPS

| refnum = 98000520{{NRISref|2008a}}

}}

The Sutliff Bridge is a bridge over the Cedar River at Sutliff, a Johnson County community near Lisbon,{{Cite book |title=Iowa Atlas and Gazetteer |date=2008 |publisher=DeLorme Map |location=Yarmouth, Maine |page=44}} Iowa, United States. A Parker truss bridge, it was built in 1897 and 1898 at a cost of approximately $12,000.{{Cite web |url=http://www.sutliffbridge.com/main |title=History of the Sutliff Bridge |work=Sutliff community website |date=2008 |access-date=2008-10-31}}{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=98000520}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Sutliff Bridge|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2021-08-05|author1=Robert Hybben|author2=Demian Hess|author3=Michelle Crow-Dol}} with {{NRHP url|id=98000520|photos=y|title=photo}} J. R. Sheely was the engineer for the original Sutliff Bridge. After a modern replacement was built over the Cedar in 1983, the bridge was slated for destruction, but it was ultimately saved,{{Cite news |url=http://media.www.dailyiowan.com/media/storage/paper599/news/2004/07/09/Arts/Far-From.Ordinary.But.Not.A.Bridge.Too.Far-692434.shtml |title=Far from ordinary, but not a bridge too far |newspaper=The Daily Iowan |date=2004-07-09 |access-date=2008-10-31}} and on May 15, 1998, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Although the bridge remained a celebrated location for locals and for visitors from across Iowa, including a 5k foot race beloved as the “worst road race in America",{{Cite news |url=http://gazetteonline.com/top-story/2009/08/10/video-deciding-whether-to-rebuild-historical-sutliff-bridge |title=Deciding whether to rebuild historical Sutliff Bridge |last=Hennigan |first=George |date=10 August 2009 |newspaper=Cedar Rapids Gazette |access-date=2009-08-10}} it succumbed to massive floods in the second week of June 2008: while the river normally flowed many feet below the bottom of the bridge, the floods topped the bridge's deck, and one of the bridge's spans was washed away on June 13{{Cite news |url=http://m.dmregister.com/news.jsp?key=270892 |title=Floodwaters sweep away historic Sutliff Bridge |newspaper=The Des Moines Register |date=2008-06-14 |access-date=2008-10-31}} as the surrounding countryside was inundated with vast amounts of water.{{Cite news |url=http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/NEWS/842019876/-1/rss01&rssfeed=rss01 |title=Cedar tops historic Sutliff Bridge |newspaper=Cedar Rapids Gazette |date=2008-06-13 |access-date=2008-10-31}} It is estimated that restoring the bridge will cost $1.7 million. Most of this money would come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with the rest coming from donations and local governments; both FEMA and the Johnson County Board of Supervisors have agreed in principle to repair the bridge. The bridge reconstruction was supervised by VJ Engineering of Coralville, Iowa, and construction was completed by Iowa Bridge and Culvert of Washington, Iowa. In October 2012 a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held, opening the bridge to public use for the first time in four years.{{Cite news |title=Supervisors vote to restore Sutliff Bridge |newspaper=Cedar Rapids Gazette |date=2010-04-07 |url=http://gazetteonline.com/local-news/flood-recovery/2010/04/07/supervisors-vote-to-restore-sutliff-bridge}}

Sutliff Bridge three-quarters.jpg|Sutliff Bridge before its collapse

Sutliff Bridge truss.jpg|Sutliff Bridge truss badly damaged in 2008 flood, downstream from bridge