Quad Cities

[Alex]

Arsenal bridge to Moline reopens; I-80 to follow

Interstate 80 eastbound was completely closed when we visited the QC in May. Glad to see that it is fully open again.

October 27, 2010

Tuesday was a good day for Quad-City bridges and the drivers who use them.

The Moline entrance to the Rock Island Arsenal reopened at 5:30 p.m. after the 1,000-foot road deck was replaced over the course of nine months.

And the Interstate 80 bridge, once closed in one direction for a time and currently one lane in each direction, is expected to reopen to all four lanes later this week or next week.

The Illinois Department of Transportation, along with the bridge contractor, Civil Constructors, previously estimated the Mississippi River crossing wouldn't return to four lanes until closer to Thanksgiving.

"Safety is the number one issue," Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Gary Hannig said. "No one likes to close a bridge, but we worked as diligently as we could, and we are glad to be at a point where it will be done before the snow flies."

A ribbon-cutting for the Arsenal entrance was canceled because of Tuesday's blustery weather, but Hannig visited the I-80 welcome center to celebrate the end of the $22.6 million reconstruction of I-80 from the Mississippi River to the Interstate 88 interchange.

Arsenal workers already were trying to leave the island via the Moline entrance before the 5:30 p.m. opening but were turned away because, as Garrison Manager Joel Himsl said, "a contract is a contract."

He is pleased the $4.4 million project came in on budget and that traffic was restored on the promised day. The entrance will have three inspection entrance points, bringing the total inspection points to six and helping improve traffic flow onto the island and around it.

"I think all in all, it will be good for the Quad-Cities," he said.

Himsl praised the contractors, General Constructors, as well as Valley Construction, for repaving Rodman Avenue, the island's main thoroughfare.

The I-80 project included laying 2.2 miles of steel-reinforced concrete that Joe Bush, president of construction for McCarthy Improvement, said should last 50 years.

As the barriers for the interstate project come off, the barriers on the bridge also will be removed, said George Ryan, Illinois DOT District 2 regional engineer. Intermittent lane closures are likely for a time as minor work is completed and signs are installed.