Help may be on the way for repairing Mower County’s roughly 90 deficient bridges.

An amendment written by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., to repair bridges was approved in the U.S. Senate Wednesday as part of a two-year, $109-billion transportation and infrastructure bill.

“This transportation jobs bill will put millions of people to work across the country in good-paying jobs, especially Minnesotans in the construction industry who have been on the bench for far too long,” Franken said in a news release.

The legislation would allow Minnesota to use federal highway performance funds to repair or replace any of the state’s nearly 4,000 eligible bridges should they fall into disrepair.

However, Mower County Public Works Director Mike Hanson was skeptical if it would bring any new funds or just continue current funds.

The county can already use a portion of federal bridge dollars on county roads and low-use roads and there was talk about eliminating the program.

“This appears that it would leave those dollars where they are right now,” Hanson said. “I don’t think this is new funding.”

Hanson noted federal funds are not guaranteed for counties.

“It’s not like we just automatically get it,” he said.

Franken discussed Minnesota’s need for bridges last September, when he cited a Transportation for America study highlighting the state’s deficient bridges. The senator said rebuilding those bridges would put thousands of Minnesotans back to work and boost the economy.

“My bipartisan amendment will make bridges across the country safer and more reliable, and the transportation bill will improve the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and set us up for long-term economic success,” Franken said in a news release.

According the the study, Mower County has the second highest percentage of deficient bridges in the state at 23.5 percent. The study stated Mower County has 77 deficient structures out of 327. But Hanson said there were about 90 deficient bridges out of a total of 369. That would put Mower County near the highest percentage in the state, at around 26 percent.

Hanson said two bridges are set to be constructed this year, and there are discussions about work on 15 total bridges.

“There are going to be some bridges going this year, but we don’t know how many and where,” said Hanson, who noted the amount of work that gets done will depend on the funds available.

The transportation and infrastructure bill still needs to pass the U.S. House, where similar legislation has been stalled.