It’s now all but certain that the iconic Centennial Bridge will be demolished as the Illinois and Iowa Departments of Transportation pursue a preferred alternative in a long-term study of the U.S. 67 (Centennial Bridge) Corridor.
For preservationists, the good news is, the 86-year-old symbol of the Quad Cities will likely stand until about 2034, due to construction timetables for the planned new I-80 Bridge over the Mississippi River. The third public meeting on the project was held Wednesday, May 20, at the Holiday Inn, 226 17th Street, Rock Island.
Over 100 comments were given during and after the last public meeting, Jan. 28, and of the six alternatives considered then, most people supported the full bridge replacement, to address long-term transportation needs for the corridor, as well as improving bike and pedestrian connections, and minimizing disruption during construction, Illinois DOT program development engineer Mike Kuehn said Wednesday.
“That feedback has been extremely valuable and has helped guide the evaluation process,” he said. They narrowed down the six alternatives to two preferred options that would replace Centennial, the four-lane bridge that opened in 1940.
They eliminated the options to:
• Rehabilitate the existing bridge, which opened as the first four-lane bridge across the Mississippi River (at an estimated cost of $74 million).
• Twin bridge built alongside the existing bridge, with rehabilitation of the existing bridge (costing potentially $231 million).
• Full reconstruction of the existing bridge superstructure on the existing piers ($319 million).
Kuehn said these options were being dismissed for a variety of factors, including not meeting the project goals; would not provide a strong long-term solution; and would create a greater construction impact.
If the existing bridge is retained, there are limitations to improvements, including not being able to widen the multi-use path from the current three-foot-width to an ideal 10-to-12-foot width, he said.
A twin structure would increase maintenance requirements of the existing bridge, Kuehn noted. Bridge reconstruction would take so much time, and require full closure for two and a half to three years. “This is why we have proposed the elimination of these alternatives.”
Phil Mescher, transportation planner for the Iowa DOT (co-project manager), discussed the differences between the two new construction options still under consideration:
• A new bridge built west of the existing Centennial Bridge (for an estimated $237 million).
• A new bridge connecting 11th Street in Rock Island to Marquette Street in Davenport ($295 million).
The one just west of the bridge would help maintain the same travel patterns as now, and less impacts to surrounding properties, and allow the current bridge to stay open during construction. There are potential impacts to the monuments at the Rock Island County Courthouse square, which would have to be relocated, Mescher said.
On the Davenport side, the new bridge just west would impact Centennial Park, and some parking areas near Modern Woodmen Park and River’s Edge ice rink.
The 11th Street-Marquette bridge would require more changes to surrounding areas, including potential acquisition and demolitions of homes and apartment buildings, Mescher said.
It would also provide more direct link to U.S. 67 (11th Street) and could have a better connection to Centennial Expressway (Illinois 92), he said.
“Both these alternatives allow the current bridge to stay open, which is a key consideration,” Mescher said. “It will help with traffic flow, keep businesses open, provide that economic vitality as construction goes on.”
The project (which also technically has a “do nothing” alternative) must get approval from the Federal Highway Administration.
The states will continue to evaluate local input and recommend the best alternative, in late summer or early fall.
“We have been doing this for so many years, going out there and fix what needs fixing, but things break down on an 85-year-old bridge and every couple years we’re going out there (for repairs), we inspect this bridge annually,” Kuehn said.
“Every time we do this, we’re impacting traffic, we’re bringing it down to one lane each direction,” he said. “It’s sustainable, but does it make the most sense in the long term? We’re leaning toward ‘No,’ we want to be doing something else here.”
Replacement costs in the future would be much larger, Kuehn noted.
The current bridge doesn’t meet ADA requirements for bike and pedestrian use, and the states would like 12-foot width on a new bridge, on one side like the new 74 bridge has, he said.
“We want it wide enough for a truck to go up and look and inspect it as well. Your typical width on a multi-use path is 10 feet.”
Since people are partial to the current look of the bridge, Kuehn said they’d try to incorporate a new arched design, but likely not the five arches it is now.
“The existing Centennial Bridge is an iconic structure – the five arches, everybody in the community has a picture of it in their restaurants,” he said. “Committing to five arches, that would be difficult on this. We would pay homage toward those arches out there.”
Today’s technology could accommodate a longer center arch, as the 74 Bridge has, Kuehn said. “There will be at least one central focal point out there.”
While the Centennial’s arches represent the five main cities in the area, “Realistically, you’re one community, so maybe that’s a motto – Phil’s been pushing it and I kind of like it. Again, we know the arches are tied into the community.”
“That is something we can easily implement into railing,” he added of areas surrounding a new bridge. Similar lighting like it has for years can be done as well. “We do need community engagement and participation for any of that.”
Having the 11th Street alternative makes sense to connect more directly with U.S. 67 there (which is 11th Street), and help revitalize the west end of Rock Island, which the city had sought, Kuehn said. They spoke with the MLK Center, and they want to get that community input as well.
The new I-80 bridge is expected to start construction in 2028 and end in 2031, replacing the current bridge built in 1967. The new Centennial Bridge would likely be done by 2034, meaning the existing bridge will be maintained until then.
Kuehn admitted everyone won’t be happy with the preferred alternative, but they want input from everyone.
If someone in the local community wanted to take on the old bridge for a multi-use path, that’s an option, and IDOT has reached out with that suggestion, without success, he noted. A historic bridge that is replaced like this must be advertised and made available for use – provided a responsible party agrees to maintain and preserve the bridge.
Due to aging infrastructure and ongoing maintenance needs, the two DOTs are conducting a corridor study to identify long-term solutions that improve safety, traffic flow, and overall connectivity for the QC region.
Since the last public meeting, the alternatives carried forward were further refined and evaluated based on several criteria, including purpose and need, design life, environmental and community impacts, temporary and long-term traffic impacts, and cost. Based on this analysis and public input, the potential alternatives have been narrowed to those that best meet the purpose and need while minimizing environmental and community impacts.
The project is currently in Phase I, which follows federal guidelines to assess transportation needs, develop and evaluate alternatives, identify and mitigate potential environmental impacts, and gather public input.
The goal is to identify a feasible solution that improves safety, mobility and connectivity while supporting the region’s long-term transportation needs. The Phase I study is expected to conclude in summer 2027.
Public impressions of options
Glen Evans, Rock Island’s First Ward alderman, represents the west end and would like to see a new bridge be built connecting 11th Street.
“The reality is, it expands the downtown area, which means we can expand the downtown and add more development,” he said. “Because it’s in my ward, I want to generate more economic development, which will assist in bringing down property taxes for my residents.”
Evans has concerns with where they’d let the bridge come down on the Rock Island side, down to 5th Avenue, which would create problems by displacing residents. “It is a possibility of working on shortening an inlet that could fix that.”
He’d love to see both Rock Island and Davenport expand their downtowns west, to attract more businesses.
“Any time you get a major public investment, it can have positive and negative impacts,” Alan Carmen (vice chair of the Rock Island Preservation Commission and treasurer of the Rock Island Preservation Society) said Wednesday, noting affected Rock Island renters who may be forced to leave for the project may get financial assistance to find new housing.
“What it comes down to is money,” he said. “How much of it is, acquisition of right of way that needs to happen; relocation assistance; design costs; the basic structural elements, and how much is left over for amenities?”
When the Centennial was first lit in 1988, River Action raised money and got the IBEW union to donate labor for installation of the lights, and since the city owned the bridge then, it was responsible for maintenance (when there also were still tolls on the bridge), Carmen said. The transfer of the bridge to Iowa and Illinois took place in 2005.
The commission and RIPS have both called for the states to restore and rehab the existing bridge.
The commission in 2024 urged the states to hear its “strong concerns that any studies, reports and analyses associated with the Centennial Bridge’s replacement or removal is strongly opposed from the standpoint of the Bridge’s history, engineering significance, iconic place in the Quad Cities geography, and the potential for negative economic impacts…”
And it called for the states to “take reasonable measures to preserve, maintain and enhance the structure including painting (which has been long deferred and is accelerating the Bridge’s deterioration) and other improvements that extend the Bridge’s longevity, usefulness and reinforce its critical place in the Quad Cities.”
“When you look at it now, a lot has rusted away,” Richard Neubauer, a lifelong Rock Islander, who is a bit younger than the bridge, at 82, said Wednesday. “I’m for a new bridge. I’m not thinking of rehabbing that.”
Former Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said he preferred a new bridge, just west of the current one, and was part of the first discussions on this seven years ago, when he first became mayor.
Centennial has been the worst rated (most structurally deficient) bridge in Iowa for years, he noted. Matson was the chair of Bi-State Regional Commission’s transportation committee.
“I think it’s finally been a wonderful process, to get so many people involved,” he said Wednesday. “There’s no way you can keep the bridge as it is.”
Davenport Ald. Marion Meginnis serves on the 30-member Community Advisory Group for the project. She doesn’t want to see 80,000-pound trucks over a new bridge that would be more appropriate to cross I-280, I-80 or I-74.
She said Marquette Street in Davenport is narrow, and Rock Island’s 11th Street already has been devastated, and would affect too many residences.
Meginnis said it would be hard to see the landmark Centennial torn down. Matson said it may be an option to preserve one or more of the bridge arches to be placed somewhere else in the area.
“At the end of the day, you need a bridge that is safe, lasts a long time, and takes in as much of the community as best that you can,” he said, noting the E2 alternative (next to the current bridge) seems to be that. “They still have some time.”
Meginnis would like to see an access ramp on the Davenport side, over railroad tracks that would allow emergency vehicles easy access, and maybe bike access as well.
“This is one of two or three biggest projects the Quad Cities has ever done,” Matson said. There are no cost estimates for the new I-80 bridge yet, which hasn’t been designed.
The U.S. 67 corridor Phase I will conclude with a final improvement plan (Preferred Alternative) submitted to the federal government for review and approval to move into the design phase of the project (Phase II).
The DOTs will hold another public meeting in late summer or early fall to announce what the preferred alternative would be, Kuehn said. The two states have allocated $300 million (split 50-50) for the project, and construction would not take place until 2031 at the earliest, after the new planned I-80 bridge over the Mississippi is completed, he noted.
Opening in 1940, the Centennial Bridge was originally the first four-lane bridge across the Mississippi River, as the original I-74 bridge between Moline and Bettendorf was two lanes, opening in 1935 (the second twin span opened in late 1959). The Rock Island-Davenport span was named Centennial to honor the city of Rock Island’s 100th anniversary in 1941.
In 2017, the bridge was officially renamed as the Master Sgt. Stanley Talbot Memorial Bridge, in honor of an Illinois state trooper who died in 2001 -- after injuries sustained from being dragged by a driver who was fleeing a roadside safety checkpoint in downtown Rock Island near the bridge.
The former "twin span" I-74 bridge was replaced by the new $1.2-billion bridge connecting Bettendorf and Moline (four lanes in each direction), with the first span opening in November 2020, and the second opening in December 2021. It carries over 80,000 vehicles daily; whereas the Centennial now averages about 22,400 vehicle crossings daily.
All public input is being documented and used to inform the project team’s evaluation of corridor improvements. Comments received by June 3, 2026 will be included in the official meeting record.
You can review materials and submit comments online at www.centennialbridge.com.
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