BETTENDORF, Iowa -- Drivers can expect big changes on both sides of the river this year.
According to the I-74 Bridge Project Manager Danielle Alvarez, those changes are expected to start in the spring and last nearly two months. After those months, westbound traffic will take the Grant Street exit, go straight to 14th St, and then take the I-74 exit to continue north. That detour will last through the rest of the year. Alvarez said these detours will only impact Iowa-bound traffic, not Illinois-bound.
But in the nearer future, Alvarez said the bridge's arches are expected to start going up next month.
"A lot of (the construction) is underwater and a lot of it's just a bunch of concrete out there," Alvarez said. "But to see that steel arch come up out of the air that's the next critical thing for the project."
Bettendorf resident, Worthington Treasure, said he often checks up on the progress of the bridge. He said he knows lane closures are all a part of the process.
"The lane closures just have to happen when you're doing a major realignment with all of the traffic that's going across this bridge," Treasure said. "Something has to give because you've got to tie all the roadways back together again and the only way to do that is to tear some of them out."
Project leaders are expected to release more specific details regarding the detours next month.
