As expected, 2019 has been challenging for the engineers and contractors who are building the new I-74 bridge in the Quad Cities.
After a harsh winter caused minor delays, Lunda Construction started erecting the steel sections of the bridge arches in March.
But then, as Michelle O'Neill reports the Mississippi River began to rise, and record flooding caused more delays.
Project Manager, Danielle Alvarez, says the arches are the most complicated part of the new bridge.
And the contractor is taking great care to measure and adjust the positions as each one of the arch segments is erected and attached.
She and the rest of the I-74 bridge project team hope dry and warm weather will allow the arches to be completed before winter.
"There's light at the end of the tunnel...We're seeing progress."
The bridge project team produced a video called "We Heard a Rumor" (below) to dispel gossip that the alignment of the arch pieces is way off. It's not.
The other parts of the project in Bettendorf and Moline are going well. And Alvarez says work has begun on the Illinois-bound piers in the river. It's a 3-and-a-half-year, $1.2 billion project.
