The Old I-74 Bridge To Be Taken Down In The Most Boring Way

The new I-74 Mississippi River Bridge has been fully open for quite awhile. Every time you drive over the new I-74 bridge, you're reminded of the old, ugly, narrow, green bridge that we used to get to Illinois and Iowa. The Iowa and Illinois departments of transportation have announced how they are going to say "goodbye" to the old bridge and it's going to be very anticlimactic.

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On December 1, 2021, the new I-74 Mississippi River Bridge opened to traffic in both directions. But in the time it took to build the new I-74 bridge until today, we all wondered the same thing. How are they going to get rid of the old I-74 bridge?

We've all wanted the same thing to happen. We wanted the old bridge to be taken down with explosives. I'm not sure if we all have some sort of problem or obsession with explosives, but it would have been really freaking cool to see that spectacle.

On Tuesday, officials from the I-74 Mississippi River Bridge announced how they are going to take that ugly eye-sore out of our lives once and for all. Unfortunately, no explosives will be involved.

How The Old Bridge Will Come Down

Plan to get rid of the old I-74 suspension bridge was released and officials even acknowledged that we wall want it to blown up saying,

"We know you want to see the old bridge go out with a bang but…we've decided to dismantle the majority of it piece by piece. At this time, the contractor is only planning to use explosives on select areas of the bridge."

If You Aren't Cleaning It Up, You Don't Get A Say

The reason for taking the boring dismantling route makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Officials say that Dismantling the majority of the bridge will have less impacts on river traffic, minimizes the amount of debris to remove from the river, and reduces impacts on the endangered mussels.

In a nice way, they said to the Quad Cities "you ain't cleaning it up if we blow it up, so we'll just take it apart."

Fair. Very fair.

When Will The Old Bridge Come Down?

I-74 bridge officials said that the Helm Group has been awarded the contract for demolition. They’ve been a  partner in constructing all of the I-74 viaduct bridges in downtown Bettendorf.

Demolition of the old I-74 bridge has begun and is anticipated to be completed mid-2024. Officials say people can check out the demolition on walks on the new bridge path and riverfront trails.

It will be a slow process, but I think we're all happy to say "goodbye!" to the old I-74 bridge.