The
Interstate 74 Bridge, originally known as the
Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, is a bridge that
crosses the Mississippi River and
connects Bettendorf,
Iowa
and Moline, Illinois
. It is located near the geographic center of
the Quad
Cities
.The first span opened in
1935 as a toll bridge. In
1959 an
identical twin span was added to satisfy increased traffic. The
twin spans were upgraded to carry interstate traffic in the
mid-1970s. In 2005, an average of 77,800 vehicles crossed the I-74
bridge daily, making it by far the most traveled bridge in the Quad
Cities. Both the Interstate 80 and 280 bridges are up to Interstate
standard, while the
Interstate 74
bridge has two narrow lanes, no shoulder, and a 50 mile-per-hour
(80 km/h) speed limit.
The
I-74
Corridor Study is underway to study replacing the bridge with a
larger one with 3 lanes in each direction.
References
See also