(Red Oak) — Montgomery County is participating in a beauty contest involving infrastructure.
Residents are asked to cast their vote for the county’s 250th Street Bridge over the East Nishnabotna River in the 2026 “Bridge as a Fashion Model” contest, sponsored by Dynamic Infrastructure. According to the organization’s website, the competition is a “great opportunity” to showcase bridges from the unique perspective of the engineers “who design, maintain, and care for these essential structures.” Montgomery County Engineer Karen Albert told the county’s board of supervisors Tuesday morning she learned of the contest in an email from the National Association of County Engineers.
“We submitted a picture of the bridge on 250th Street as part of the ‘Bridge as a Fashion Model’ competition,” said Albert. “Voting is open from April 1 to April 14. We’ll put a link on our website so people can go in there, and check that out and vote for us. That would be great–we would appreciate that.”
Winners will be announced at an Innovation Breakfast event April 15. Flooding from the March 2019 “bomb cyclone” damaged the bridge between Evergreen Avenue and Highway 48 southwest of Red Oak, forcing the county to close it and replace it with a new bridge. County officials reopened the new bridge in June, 2024. A.M. Cohron and Son was the general contractor of the project totaling $2.1 million. You can vote for the bridge through a link provided on Montgomery County’s website, or a link to Dynamic Infrastructure’s website.