This morning, a huge crane hoisted the final piece of the new, I-74 bridge arch into place. A crew is working on the Iowa-bound side of the bridge over the Mississippi River between Moline and Bettendorf.
Michelle O'Neill reports the project manager says this day was a long time coming.
Now that the 38-foot-long keystone is in the air, Danielle Alvarez, the Project Manager from the Iowa Department of Transportation, says construction workers are busy connecting it to the rest of the arch segments on the Iowa-bound bridge.
The crane will continue to support the keystone until workers complete several more steps, including using thousands of bolts to connect all the pieces.
Temporary support structures, such as the tall towers on each end of the arches, will be removed and then used again to build the Illinois-bound bridge.
Even though a lot of work remains, Alvarez is pleased and says it's a good day. No major injuries have been reported since construction began nearly three years ago.
The goal is to complete the Iowa-bound bridge and open it to traffic during the second half of the year. It's a huge part of the $1.2 billion I-74 project which also includes nearly eight miles of interstate in the Quad Cities.