Thousands of people turned out for the grand opening of the I-74 bridge on Wednesday. (I, sadly, was not one of them.) The Illinois-bound span fully opened Thursday night, and the last lane in use on the 1959 bridge was shut down. Coverage: Quad-City Times, WHBF, WQAD (Nov. 15), WQAD (Dec. 1) (above), WQAD* (Dec. 2).
The new bridge is supposed to last 100 years; to reach the longevity of the first two-lane span, it will need to be used through 2106.
* It’s “set foot”, NOT “step foot”. Ugh.