March 22, 2017 – The largest infrastructure project in the Bi-State Region’s history will begin this year due to the persistence and leadership of all those involved. The Bi-State Regional Commission adopted the Interstate 74 Bridge corridor project as the number one transportation priority in the Bi-State Region in 1998. Since that time, four long-range transportation plans have been developed by the Bi-State Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the project has continued to be the top priority. There have been over 14 changes in engineering and planning leadership between the Illinois and Iowa Departments of Transportation and over 20 chief elected official changes on the Transportation Policy Committee since 1998. With all of these changes, the Bi-State Regional Commission has continued to communicate a unified message of support for the project.
The I-74 Mississippi River Bridge Corridor project has received significant federal funding due to the support of our federal delegation throughout the past 20 years. Over $88 million in federal discretionary dollars have been received through the teamwork of federal staff and Bi-State coordinating the paper work and funding requests. One of the largest sums of federal discretionary dollars was $67.4 million in the 2005 transportation act, SAFETEA-LU. In fact, Bi-State was one of the few organizations invited to testify in one of three hearings held prior to the signing of SAFETEA-LU.
Bi-State policy members and staff also have worked with the Iowa and Illinois DOTs to insure the project was included in their Transportation Improvement Programs. Local governments and Bi-State staff participated in an advisory committee since the inception of the project and assisted in coordination of public information opportunities.
The I-74 Bridge Corridor project schedule began in 1995 with a Major Investment Study and continues as follows:
Schedule: Fiscal Year
Major Investment Study 1995-1998
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 1999-2005
Final EIS/Preliminary Engineering 2005-2008
Record of Decision (ROD) – Project Accepted by Federal Highways 2009
Lincoln Road Overpass Complete 2009
I-74/53rd St. Complete 2013
Final Design Complete 2016
Iowa ROW and Demolition Complete 2015
Moline/Bettendorf Central Business District Projects 2015-2017
Illinois ROW and Demolition 2010-2018
North Section, Middle Road to 53rd Street Design 2016-2018
Final Mainline I-74 Construction 2018-2021*
*(Central Bridge Section, bluff to bluff begins calendar year 2017)
Existing Bridge Demolished 2021
North Section Construction with Cost of $152 Million TBD
The project has been value engineered to reduce costs with a construction period reduction from 8 to 3.5 years. The bridge will have increased protection for seismic occurrences and barge collisions and is being built to last 100 years. The 7.8 Mile Corridor will cost $1.17 Billion in Year of Expenditure, which includes $152 million already spent on engineering, ROW acquisition, demolition, and portions of the project corridor previously completed. The remaining costs for the Central Bridge Section from Avenue of the Cities to Middle Road is $863 million.