Winter weather has been a struggle for the companies building the new bridge over the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities.
But over the weekend, Lunda Construction workers placed the first piece of an arch onto its foundation.
Construction Engineer Doug McDonald, from the Iowa DOT, says last fall, crews started preparing the steel plate on top
of the one of the central concrete piers for a precise fit.
On Saturday, Lunda used a crane to lift the 250,000 lb. piece of white steel and set it into place. After that, workers tightened 48 huge bolts.
McDonald says the entire process took about 20 hours.
This central pier and three others are critical to the integrity of the new I-74 bridge.
A set of towers near the pier foundation will be used to attach cables to the arch pieces to stabilize them.
The project team hopes Lunda completes attaching the arch pieces by early summer. Each of the steel arch pieces will be connected by thousands of bolts.
Currently, McDonald says about 120 people are working on the I-74 bridge and highway project. After the weather gets warmer, that number will increase to around 300.
