I-80 bridge work done early. Yay!

[47of74]

Some good news out of the Quad Cities;

The end of the painful I-80 Bridge closure is now in sight. Construction crews say the repair work is ahead of schedule and the bridge will re-open to two-way traffic the week on June 11th, which is more than a month earlier than expected.

According to John Wegmeyer of the Illinois Department of Transportation, there will be two-way traffic on the east-bound lanes of the bridge over the Mississippi River while crews finish work on the west-bound lanes.

It's welcome news for interstate drivers, businesses in LeClaire, Iowa and Port Byron, Illinois as well as the construction company, which gets a big bonus for getting traffic flowing both ways again.

Wegmeyer says the contractor will get a $1 million bonus for getting the work done early. The plan was to have the bridge back open to two-way traffic by July 15th. The construction company gets $20,000 a day for every day the work is finished ahead of schedule, plus a $400,000 bonus if it's finished before the 4th of July.

I know some people I work with will be happy to be able to use I-80 again when going home from work instead of having to take the detour on 74.

[Bluzmann57]

1. I remember when that bridge was built

Done in 1966 and I attended...Bridgeview school which was named because one can see the bridge from there. Hey, back in '66 that was a big deal for us LeClaire natives.
And now it is among the most worked on bridges in America I think. I wonder if the construction workers will see any of that bonus money for busting their butts and getting it done earlier than planned?