I-74 Mississippi River bridge wins ACEC of Illinois 2023 Lincoln Grand Conceptor Award
The new I-74 Mississippi River bridge in the Quad-Cities – which resulted in IMEG’s largest civil engineering project – has received ACEC of Illinois’ top honors.
It received the Lincoln Grand Conceptor Award, which honors projects for engineering ingenuity, complexity, and community benefits.
The project was honored Feb. 16, 2023 as part of the group’s 2023 Engineering Excellence Awards.
The Iowa Department of Transportation, which took the lead on the project, was responsible for the entry.
Designed by Alfred Benesch and Modjeski and Masters, the 3,400-feet-long span provides a crossing over the Mississippi River between Bettendorf, Iowa, and Moline, Ill. The new structure features dual basket-handle arch bridges with main channel spans of 800 feet. There are six lanes, including a bicycle and pedestrian path.
The overall Interstate 74 Bridge Corridor Project included replacing the old bridge and improving about eight miles in the I-74 corridor.
IMEG provided construction engineering, materials testing, and inspection for multiple components of the project.
It has previously been named Roads & Bridges Magazine’s #1 Bridge of 2022; American Institute of Steel Construction and National Steel Bridge Alliance’s 2022 Prize Bridge Awards in the National Major Span category; and was a Midwest winner in the 2022 America’s Transportation Awards. The bridge will also be featured on a U.S. Postal Service stamp in 2023.