EAST MOLINE, Ill. — East Moline wants your feedback on its plans to upgrade downtown. The city's plan is called the Greater Downtown East Moline Revitalization Project.
The project seeks to connect three key areas of downtown: The Bend, The Rust Belt, and the heart of downtown at 15th Ave. (also known as Main Street).
City leaders held the first open house meeting on Feb. 21 at the Bend Event Center, which focused on streetscaping projects in The Bend area.
One guest at the meeting was Tammy Becker, who owns a renewable plastic company in East Moline called Green Current Solutions.
"As a resident and a business owner, I couldn't be more excited," Becker said.
Becker's business is just down the street from the Rust Belt, and said she's looking forward to the improvements.
"Every day from our factory, I can see people walking and riding bicycles along 12th Ave., which is a really busy highway, so it's super dangerous. And I think once we get especially some of these bike paths and walking paths open, it's just gonna benefit and bring more people to the area," Becker said.
It wasn't just East Moline residents stopping by the open house. Jaclyn Dooley has lived in Moline for more than 20 years and visited the public meeting.
"They're gonna open a lot of opportunities to everyone in East Moline," Dooley said.
Dooley is hoping the revitalization will bring more economic growth and recreation to East Moline that all the Illinois-side hometowns in the Quad Cities area can benefit from.
"Let's say three events, or four events, maybe once a week have an event, and it's not gonna go all to the Vibrant Arena. It's gonna come to East Moline," Dooley said.
The city's expansive plans include better walking and bike paths, green space and improvements to rail crossings like the one on 7th Street, just off of Main Street. "What we'd like to do is add a separated trail, where there are crossing arms just for pedestrians," East Moline director of engineering Tim Kammler said.
The revitalization project is funded by a $23.7 million RAISE grant, which is federal funding for infrastructure improvements across the U.S. There is a local match that is required as part of that the RAISE grant, I believe it's 20%. So around $5 million that would be required locally," city administrator Mark Rothert said.
Three other public meetings are planned for 2024. Exact dates and locations are to be determined later, with each meeting having a different focus:
- Early Summer 2024 — Main Street (15th Avenue)
- Late Summer 2024 — Rust Belt
- Fall 2024 — Bend Boulevard extension
City planners said while they're hoping to start construction in 2025, public opinion now will help with final design choices, to get the look and feel of downtown the community wants.
Feedback can be given at any of these meetings or through the city's website.
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