Plans are moving forward to replace the 85-year-old Centennial Bridge that connects Rock Island and Davenport. CREDIT JOHN SCHULTZ
Plans are moving forward to possibly replace the 85-year-old Centennial Bridge that connects Rock Island and Davenport. A new bridge could be ready for Quad Cities motorists within eight years. That’s the message delivered to the Davenport City Council during a Tuesday, Feb. 18, Centennial Bridge update. The report was presented by officials with the […]
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Plans are moving forward to possibly replace the 85-year-old Centennial Bridge that connects Rock Island and Davenport.A new bridge could be ready for Quad Cities motorists within eight years. That’s the message delivered to the Davenport City Council during a Tuesday, Feb. 18, Centennial Bridge update. The report was presented by officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation and WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., the engineering company working with IDOT on the bridge project.“It’s important to show that this process has started, and the public will be involved. … It’s not just engineers and politicians,” Mark Peterson, a vice president and project manager with WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff, told the QCBJ after a 20-minute bridge presentation during a management update meeting in the council chambers at Davenport City Hall.He added that a big part of that process will be a series of four public meetings in the region in the coming months. The first of those is tentatively scheduled for 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 17, at the Holiday Inn Rock Island.That meeting will outline the history of the bridge – which has the formal name of the Master Sgt. Stanley Talbot Memorial Bridge – and discuss the steps that could be taken in the next several years that may lead to the construction of a new bridge, said Michael Kuehn, an engineer with IDOT and District 2’s studies and plans engineer. He was one of the officials who gave the bridge presentation to the council on Tuesday.“We wanted to make the council aware that we are progressing on this issue,” he added.That project will include three phases. “If all the stars align,” bridge construction could start in 2029 or 2030, Mr. Kuehn told the council.Plans are moving forward to replace the 85-year-old Centennial Bridge that connects Rock Island and Davenport. CREDIT JOHN SCHULTZ
Three-phase project
After Tuesday’s meeting, he told the QCBJ construction could take about three years, which could put the completion date at around 2033. “We are so early on in this process, I don’t really want to make any completion date predictions,” he added.Much of Tuesday’s meeting centered on updating the council on the phases of the project. They include:
Phase One: Preliminary engineering and an environmental study. This will also include the formation of stakeholder meetings, a community advisory group, a technical advisory group, a public hearing and four public meetings. In this phase the study will consider improved bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. Also, a project website is scheduled to be launched in March. This phase, which has just started, will last about 30 months.
Phase Two: Includes contract plan preparation and land acquisition. This phase will last about two years.
Phase Three: This is the construction phase that could start as early as 2029.
Funding: A cost estimate for bridge project is not available. During Tuesday’s presentation, Mr. Kuehn told the council that funding would come from Iowa, Illinois and federal sources. He added that Illinois is taking the lead on the project.
Other factors: Officials told the council that possible alternative routes for a new bridge will consider a number of factors, including: social and economic factors; historic properties; noise; natural resources and special lands, such as parks. Also, the bridge project needs to follow federal laws, such as the National Historic Preservation Act and consider the effects of federally funded projects on historic properties.
Huge project, big deal
During the meeting, Marion Meginnis, third award alderman and mayor pro-tem, said she was especially concerned about the historic impact the project would have on the community. She added the bridge project could impact three historic districts within Davenport. “I want to be involved in this project,” she added.That project centers on the bridge which opened on July 12, 1940. The span is a major connection between the two cities, carrying more than 20,000 vehicles on an average day. The bridge is on U.S. Highway 67.Over the past several years, officials from Rock Island and Davenport have increasingly expressed concerns about the safety of the Centennial Bridge. During Tuesday’s meeting, Davenport Mayor Mike Matson repeated some of those concerns, stating the bridge is on the “lower level” of structural integrity.A few years ago, the Iowa DOT said the bridge is rated in “poor” condition, one of 30 spans across the state under its jurisdiction that are in that condition.“I know we are talking years (before this project is over). … But it’s a huge project and it’s a big deal for us,” the mayor said.
