Plans for building a new Interstate 74 bridge linking Iowa and Illinois may now be pushed back five years due to a lack of funding. Our pockets are empty. That’s what the Obama administration is saying to the Quad-Cities’ request for 126-million federal dollars.
The dough would help pay for a new I-74 bridge over the Mississippi between Bettendorf and Moline, a project that could cost more than a billion bucks. The current bridge has no place for motorists to pull over when they’ve had a wreck or their vehicles have broken down. And bridge delays are a fact of life for commuters.
The Quad-Cities also recently learned it won’t get federal funds to help pay for passenger rail service to and from Chicago.
By Phil Roberts, Davenport