Plans for a new Centennial Bridge.

What are the choices for The Cities?

[lively music] [music ends] The 3,800 ft long Centennial Bridge links downtown Davenport with downtown Rock Island.

It is a signature bridge.

The arches are the backdrop to Modern Woodmen Ballpark and countless logos for governments, businesses, and organization that all call the cities home.

First opened in 1940, the 85 year old bridge is now being considered for replacement, but not before residents have their say.

We talked with Illinois Transportation Department Studies engineer Michae Kuehn about this historic bridge and what's being considered for its replacement.

Michael, thank you very much for joining us.

Tell me a little bi about why the Centennial Bridge is is in need of replacement right now.

Sure.

So the Centennial Bridge was built in 1940.

It was originally, Tollway Bridge, between Rock Island and Davenport.

In 2005, the bridge was actually turned over to the Illinois and Iow Departments of Transportation.

To to take over maintenanc and and control of the bridge.

You know, we're looking at an 85 year old bridge at this point in time.

Over the past 20 years, both DOT's have put, millions of dollars into the structure.

And we've been repairing it on a semi annual basis.

In 2024 we decided, you know, instead of doing this on a every other year basis and try and repair it, we wanted to come up with a longer term solution.

So we started this study, that we've been in progress with since 2024 to, to determine, you know, what do we want to do here?

Do we want to keep doing what we've been doing?

Do we want to do a more in-depth rehab?

Do we want to look at, reconstruction out here or, realignment?

So the past two years, we've had, three public meetings.

Had numerous community advisory groups and, and technical advisory groups and stakeholder meetings and really been asking, you know, what the community is looking for with this bridge structure.

And if the existing structure would meet those needs.

What we found with the first two meetings is that there are a lot of needs that aren't being met with the structure.

Again, it's an 85 year old structure, so it does need a lot of work.

And even with a rehabilitation, it's never going to be able to accommodate some of the needs that are out there today.

So that's realistically what we presented in, in the public meeting on, or on May 20th was, what we're looking to proceed forward, What we're looking to no proceed forward within.

The big thing that we noted was that, realistically, rehabilitation doesn't seem like the most feasible approach to it.

Again, being that's an 85 year old structure, it has only so much that we can do to widen it.

We cannot, add capacity for it as far as, removing the weight restrictions.

Bike and ped accommodations are very limited in what we can do with the existing structure.

So we are, barring or with, FHWA approval looking at, at, two alternatives for reconstruction.

And we do have also the, the, no build alternative, which is basically stay status quo.

And that's always, you know, one of the options is to keep it at status quo.

When you talk about the Centennial Bridge.

It's also, such a steep, entry into Davenport, as well as the fact that it is such a cramped, four lanes that are on that bridge.

Was that something als that you looked at is the fact that it just doesn't meet th needs of of the modern traveler?

Thats exactly, some of th things that we are looking at.

You know, we heard a lot about safety.

You know, the on ramp on the Illinois side, you know, concerns with merging there.

We did have a fatality on, the bridge, you know, because there is no refuge if you break down.

We have, speed concerns out there, that the public is noted.

So, yeah, the the footprin of the existing bridge doesn't allow for wider shoulders or or to allow for more room to accommodate other, other facilities, like a multi use path.

So it is one of many, many things that we were informed about and we saw with, with our [?]

on it.

So, so yeah, all these are reasons that we're looking at, at alternatives such as a realignment of either next to the existing bridge or a couple blocks down.

Well, and as you well know, I mean, we're just getting used to the new I-74 bridge.

And that was an iconic bridge that was also very narrow and didn't meet the interstate standards.

Not that the Centennial Bridge is an interstate, of course.

But we kind of look at that.

Is that it is an iconic bridge.

I mean, the Quad Cities has so many logos, so many illustrations tha involve the Centennial Bridge.

How how can you replace a bridge that's that iconic, and not meet opposition?

That is that's been one of our big things tha we've been looking at as well.

You know, with our community advisory group, we did have multiple historic districts involved.

You know, like you noted, you know, logos, on the the community's, letterhead have have that bridge shown on it.

You know, every restaurant in the downtown area has a picture of that bridge on it.

You know, the one thing we're going to have to do, with replacing the bridge is somehow pa homage to the existing bridge.

And, and as we carry forward, try and put some of those elements into the new bridge.

We we've heard some feedback from people on different things we can do to pay homage to the bridge.

You know, again, you know, we'll document the existing bridge extensively as well.

And, and, try and, keep detailed records of the bridge video it and everything else, for, for future generations.

But, one thing that people brought up, in the public meeting, the other day is, you know, is it possible to take on of the existing arches, place it in, in one of the local parks, like Schwiebert Park?

That's certainly something we can look into.

And and does seem like, an excellent idea to to help keep keep the spirit of that bridge alive.

At the same time, looking at any new structure, we're going to want to do the same thing, pay homage to the existing structure while still getting these new accommodations.

Well, as you may remember, when there's, discussion of the I-80 bridge, which is going to be, replaced.

There was, an entire push to have a bison bridge, and have homage to, some of the, past a history of the Quad Cities when the I-74 bridge was being dismantled.

There was a push to keep part of that, perhaps as an overlook over the, slough area.

Or keep it as a separate, bike path.

Is it possible that the Centennial Bridge would be maintained, perhaps as a walking bridge or a bicycle bridge?

Or is it just too expensive to maintain that?

So as far as the department of transportation go, and again, this this is a, a group effor on it, both Illinois and Iowa.

Maintain the bridge, you know, pay for the maintenance and construction of any bridge, that crosses the Mississippi.

You know, we want to maintain one bridge structure.

You know, certainly if there were other parties interested i keeping the existing bridge, we we would certainly be willing to to convey that over.

We have reached out to the locals, both on the Rock Island Davenport side.

But there weren't there wa no interest in taking that over.

You know, this is an expensive structure to maintain.

You know, even as a pedestrian bridge, it it does need some constant maintenance and, and upkeep on it.

So it's it's not a cheap item to have.

So.

So from our standpoint if there's an interested party, we'd certainly be willing to, to entertain the idea.

But at this point, you know, maintaining two structures just exclusively one for the existing for a pedestrian is a little, a little more expensive than what would be prudent, for taxpayer funds.

It appears that of all the options that are being discussed or considered, the one that involves 11t Street extending, to the river and then the bridge going over the Mississipp to Marquette Street in Davenport is the one that has, some real support.

Is that the favored route right now?

At this point in time, there's two different alternatives.

Again, with th the no build in there as well.

E2, which is our, our build adjacent to the existing bridge, has a lot of support as well.

E-7 is is that Marquette to 11th Street you're talking about.

Both alternatives have thei their pluses and minuses on it.

Realistically, from a standpoint of minimal impacts to the adjacent community, E2 really has has a leg up on E7, which is a Marquette to 11th Street.

We'd be impacting less adjacent properties.

It would still keep the bridge as close to the existing location as possible.

So you know, even with the new structure, in a different, silhouette out there, you would still have the bridge in the same location.

So, so local.

Folks, that would be walking back and forth, would still have that same ability to walk back and forth.

The touch dow points would also be the same.

So there's benefits with that.

On the 11th Street and Marquette, bridge option.

You know, there has been some, talk about future development out there and economic opportunities so that that's a plus on that side, for the local communities.

At the same time, we would b impacting far more properties, residential, areas and in disadvantaged communities, which that definitely, does give us pause, on that, that alternative.

We certainly don't want to be impacting a bunch of homes, busines or a bunch of homes in an area.

And if there's concerns tha we are impacting that community, that that is definitel a major concern of ours as well.

We are a community that is made of bridges.

And like we were saying earlier, the I-74 bridge, replaced and now work is going on the I-80 bridge.

Explain to me how the I-80 construction would impact your timeline for the Centennial Bridge.

Sure.

So we are trying to develop, plans for, you know, all the different projects in the area.

You know, even predating the the I-80 bridge, we have the I-74, reconstruction with John Deere Road, where we're converting the cloverleaf there to a diverging diamond interchange.

That's actually going out this fall for leading.

So construction will start next year, to reconstruct 74.

That'll get constructed, next year and into 2028.

In 2028, we're going to start work on, on the off alignment bridge for I-80.

So that'll be going on for several years.

And any reconstruction of a Centennial Bridge would happe after I-80 has been completed.

So that puts us in the 2031 32 range, for that.

But these are, ar all stacking up on each other.

And we want to make sure that there's still, ample access to the Quad Cities area as we develop these on.

And realistically, things are timing ou pretty nicely right now for us.

But the other the other thing is that, to the best of my knowledge and correct me if I'm wrong, is that most of the time, if there is an interstate construction, you have to keep the interstate open to some extent.

But the Centennial Bridge is not an interstate.

If you if you were to choose the 11th Street, Marquette Street location, that would have less o an impact in the downtown area.

If it's if it's going to be constructed near the Centennial Bridge, would the Centennial Bridge have to close during that construction period?

We would maintain acces regardless of the alternative.

The biggest differenc we're seeing right now would be, there might be a little more longe period with the, bridge closer to where we may have to maintain one lane in each direction, versus two lanes in each direction.

There's a little more opportunity, like you said, with the Marquette to 11th, where we once we opened it up, we could have it opened the two lanes in each direction.

Now that being said, it would be a short duration, period.

We're talking maybe a couple months on that and that's it.

One of our early alternatives was a complete reconstruction where we would take the bridge down to its peers, widen out the peers and reconstruct the entire superstructure.

That would have required a full, full closure of the bridge for several years.

You know, the community, was loud and clear.

Such an impact to the community would be detrimental on both sides of the river.

That was one of the reasons why we eliminated that in the last round as well.

We fully understand this connects both communities.

We want to minimiz that duration, that it impacts the communities.

Again, right now we're whe we're doing the work out there.

We're down to one lane in each direction through most of the summer When we're doing work.

So that's one of the reasons that we're looking at these these different alternatives on it, and, and trying to proceed with something different.

But a short duration, one lane in each direction, is no it is not the end of the world.

As long as we can ge something out there in the end, that's going to last many, many decades, which, a new construction would allow.

Well, and as you said, I mean, designs still being, created.

But that in a way, if the new bridge is built, you want to salute the old Centennial Bridge in a way.

How would it be an iconic bridge?

How would this be a new, iconic bridge?

I mean, definitely preserve some form of the arches.

Or or what, what are you looking at?

Well, that's one thing that we're going to want community support as well on and input.

You know, realistically you know, the, the five arches that are out there right now, the reason those are out ther was, you know, 1940s technology.

And the pier is being spaced the way they are.

You know, technology today.

And and steel beams that they are, we're probably not going to nee five arches out there anymore.

But in the main span, with the, the riverway and and the, barge, traffic, we're going to nee at least one span in the middle that's going to need some sort of arch or some sort of similar, similar structure to, carry that load for the main, main, bridge section.

Because the openin is going to be over 600ft wide.

That would be an opportunity to put an arch out there.

Now again, it wouldn't be five arches, but we could easily get an arch out there or something similar to it.

We're going to probably thro out a couple different options to the community as things progress along.

Get the input on it.

The other thin that, we've heard of and talked about in the community advisory group and, and technical advisory Group has been, you know, possibly putting an arch design along the, the, railing for the multi use path and, and similar things.

Another thing that has been brought up again was, was possibly placing one of the existing arches in the park adjacent to it.

We're open to, to different ideas.

Certainly want to hear different ideas on what we can do to help help provide for for that paying homage to the existing bridge and and helping make this a new and unique, structure in itself.

Later this summer you're going to have a decision on a preferred, route that you're going to present, to the public.

Where do you go from there, then?

Because you've gotten the input from the community.

It'll be continuous, of course, because construction is going to be in the next decade, but you'll have a preferred route actually by the by sometime the summer.

Sure.

You know, while we'd have a preferred route, there's stil a lot of decisions to be made.

Again, you know, what's that bridge going to look like?

How are we paying homage to it?

You know, what are the the final minute impacts that that bridge is going to have?

You know, there's a lot of decisions to be made realistically, the alternate route or the the preferred, the preferred route is, you know, one of the first big steps, but there's a lot of steps to follow.

I did inform our community advisory group that that once we get this preferred alternative, that doesn't mean the end.

It's kind of a beginning of, you know, what do we need to do next?

And and again how do we best refine this and, and finalize this so it it does best serve the community.

Our thanks to Illinois Transportation Departmen studies engineer Michael Kuehn.

Welcome to June and the unofficial start to summer.

We are enjoying these weeks, so let's take a look at some of the hot events you can enjoy in our area thanks to Visit Quad Cities.

[soft music] Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week off by visiting the QC dinner theater Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse to watch Fiddler on the roof.

Then enjoy appetizers, cocktails, and live music while watching the sun set o the rooftop of the Up Sky bar.

Join Pride in Motion on a hik every second and fourth Thursday this summer.

This week will be at Black Hawk State Historic Site.

Next, bring your lawn chair, because the cast of Fiddler on the Roof will perform on the marquee at Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse.

Finally, 2nd Saturdays are back.

Enjoy live music, lawn games, loca food, drink, and so much more.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at VisitQuadCities.com [music ends] Bethann Heidgerken started her love of performing while attending high school in Dubuque.

It led her to study music at the University of Iowa, and she now lives in Davenport, raising a family and still pursuing her love of music.

She joined us as part of WQPT Chords and Coffee session to perform one of her originals.

Here's Bethann Heidgerken with Answer Right.

Inspiration often hits like when you're trying to go to sleep.

And I will have to make myself get up and, like, write down what I was thinkin and maybe go grab an instrument to, like, figure out a couple of chords so it's more ingrained, or else it just is is gone.

And I'll wake up and like being like, oh I had that really good song idea and I completely forgot it.

[ha, ha] [guitar strumming] Ah, ah, ah, aaaaaah, ahhh.

Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.

Youve been thinkin [?]

be nice.

But you've been drinkin Sometimes I think thats why I [?]

Can you answer right?

I doubt [?]

[?]

[guitar strumming] You want to get some love and I can see it in your eyes.

Got no way to [?]

youre not one to disguise.

But do you want me baby?

Can you answer right?

I don't [?]

...answer right.

[guitar strumming] You can tell me anything, I swear I won't mind.

I like to hear your thoughts.

Connect them to mine.

Now are you waiting for m to make that first move in la?

Oh, what do you want me to do?

[guitar strumming] It's got kind of a poppy feel.

And the, I guess the lyrics behind it are kind of fun.

It's about like, being out with a person and wanting to have, like, a good tim and, like, be flirty and cute, but the other person' just not being flirty and cute, [ha, ha, ha] and they might actually be getting on your nerves.

So it's kind of about that, that feeling, which is not very deep, but it's a fun song.

Do you want me baby?

Can you answer right?

I dont [?]

but you got to have that answer right.

How much do you want me [?]

I don't want to be lonely.

But you got to have that answer right.

Get to have that answer right.

Get to have that answer right.

You get to have that answe right.

Oh, you got to have that answer right.

Oh, you got to have that answer right.

Oh, you got to have that answer right.

Youve got to have that answer right.

Got to have that answer right.

Got to have that answer right.

Bethann Heidgerken with Answer Right.

The countdown to the 4th of July continues, and this year's Independence Day is special.

It's the 250th birthday of our country.

Over the past few months, we've asked Quad City residents about their contributions to our society.

What was their Civic Spark that helped them decide the path they chose?

The Quad City Parent Mento program, run by Western Illinois University Quad Cities, has expanded to get more parents involve in their children's education.

And among the facilitators is Theresa Andrews.

So we asked Theresa, what's your Civic Spark?

[soft music] I want to pu myself in somebody else's shoes.

Like, how can I help this person?

I want us to do great.

I want us to be big.

I want us to be known.

I want to help as many people, kids as I can.

And that's all of us as a whole.

We really want this.

This is something we really want.

And we're going to be heard.

[music ends] Our thanks to Theresa Andrews of the Parent Mentor Program, talking about her Civic Spark.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile devic and streaming on your computer, thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends]