Sutliff Bridge is a bridge over the Cedar River at Sutliff , a Johnson County community near Lisbon , Iowa , United States . A Parker truss bridge , it was built in 1897 and 1898 at a cost of approximately $ 12,000 . 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 , 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 " , 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 as the surrounding countryside was inundated with vast amounts of water . 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
massive floods
Iowa flood of 2008
Sutliff Bridge