MOLINE, Illinois — Progress is being made on the Interstate 74 Bridge Improvement Project, as drivers commuting to Illinois now have more options. If you're headed into the Downtown Moline area, you no longer need to take the old I-74 bridge.
Drivers can now take the new bridge, as 6th Avenue exit is scheduled to open Friday, April 2nd.
That means the 7th Avenue off-ramp on the old structure is closing. The final exit still open on the original bridge is now River Drive in Moline, and the only way to access it is through State Street in Bettendorf.
George Ryan, corridor manager with the project, says the old bridge will stay up until both the westbound and eastbound spans of the new bridge are open. He says today's steps gets the team closer and closer to a completed project.
"Pretty soon this spring, (crews will) be putting down concrete deck for the new (span) for portions of that (bridge)," Ryan says. "We've changed traffic several times, and as we change traffic, we can tear out old structure and make room for more of the new structure. It's all going real well."
As for other progress on the project, the 23rd segment of the second arch was placed Thursday, April 1st. Crews expect to have the second arch done by the summertime, which is a crucial piece to getting this project done by the end of 2021.
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