There’s a little bit of good news and a little bit of bad news for commuters who have been battling I-74 bridge corridor construction for the past five months.
First the good: lane closures will be switching on both the Iowa and Illinois-bound work zones, and Illinois DOT District 2 Implementation Engineer John Wegmeyer said this could loosen up the Illinois-bound traffic that has regularly been clogged back beyond Middle Road in Bettendorf.
The bad news?
The goal of having the construction work – which began in March – completed by mid-August and in time for the John Deere Classic is dashed. Wegmeyer said Labor Day weekend is more likely for project completion.
The biggest culprit in the delay, he added, was the late June impasse over passage of a stop-gap Illinois budget. Although an 11th hour deal was reached prior to the June 30 deadline to keep construction funds flowing, IDOT officials were ordered by the state government to “prepare as though there would be a shutdown,” Wegmeyer said. That meant informing the contractor to halt some work.
“We couldn’t have them jackhammer holes and then leave them there over the winter,” he said. “That probably cost us at least a good week.”
The DOT will widen lanes on the Illinois-bound bridge span and roll out some new electronic message board signage urging drivers to continue moving at a decent rate of speed. This is expected to improve traffic flow. The lane switch will also necessitate the Illinois-bound 7th Avenue off-ramp to close beginning Thursday. Drivers will need to use the River Drive off-ramp instead and follow a detour to reach downtown Moline.
