The Quad Cities is blessed with an abundance of rivers throughout the region with the crown jewel being the mighty Mississippi River. However, the area is challenged to provide for adequate bridge crossings to span these rivers. Fortunately, most of the bridges are on designated state or federal highways, and thus have access to a larger source of funding. However, the eastern half of the metropolitan area which is experiencing much of the area's growth has a nine mile gap where currently no crossing of the Mississippi River exists. A plan has been developed and approved by local leaders which identifies the need for a new bridge closing the gap between Bettendorf and East Moline. Traffic using the new bridge is forecast to be 21,000 vehicles daily if constructed by the year 2020. For clearer reference, the new bridge shall be referred to as the "East Bridge" in this report.

Unlike every existing bridge between Illinois and Iowa, the East Bridge corridor is not designated as part of the National Highway System (NHS) nor are there any state or federal routes which could be aligned across the bridge. Therefore, construction and maintenance of the East Bridge is the responsibility of the Quad Cities Area. Studies have shown that using tolls to support a new facility is not feasible. The county and municipal governments making up the Quad Cities area do not have the resources to collectively support the expense of any Mississippi River crossing. Therefore, a funding mechanism would need to be created.

A Solution
Laws currently exist on the books of Illinois and Iowa providing for the process to create a Quad Cities Interstate Metropolitan Authority. The laws were drafted and approved in 1990 in response to the need for the Quad Cities area to work through economic challenges of the decade of the 1980's. The existing laws could be adjusted to reflect current and future needs.

New East Bridge and Other Road Improvements Survey
Northern Illinois University completed a random telephone survey regarding transportation issues in the Quad Cities region including Mississippi River bridge crossings and other road improvements. The survey was coordinated by the Bi-State Regional Commission through funding from the Cities of Bettendorf, Davenport, East Moline, Moline and Rock Island; and the Counties of Rock Island and Scott. The survey design, data collection and report were produced by the Northern Illinois Public Opinion Laboratory.

The survey was conducted between May 1, and June 20, 2001 with a random sample of approximately 1,000 adults 18 years of age or older in Rock Island and Scott Counties. The goals of the survey project were to determine the awareness of bridge crossing developments in the Quad Cities, determine the importance of bridge crossing issues to Quad City residents, provide public education about the proposed crossing plan and to gather public opinion about the proposed plan.

proposed transportation plan - telephone survey Report

sur-rep.pdf (419.4 KB) Telephone Survey Report sur-app-a.pdf (181.7 KB) Appendix A: Questionnaire sur-app-b.pdf (6961.6 KB) Appendix B: Survey Data