More plans for the new I-74 bridge being discussed.
It's a project that's been in planning since 2000.
And bridge work has been delayed to 2018.
But Iowa has pushed forward the plans for local road construction.
Reconstructing Bettendorf's roads traveling underneath I-74.
With the plan being to shift eastbound State street to Grant street.
Connecting highway 67 to I-74 all in the same place.
That work is scheduled to take place in 2015.
And the DOT expects that project to last one construction season.
Iowa has already fully funded this portion of the project.
Several streets will eventually be closed, for example State street will eventually dead end near the bridge, because the new bridge supports would be in the middle of that road.
The DOT has to finish buying properties in the project area and expects to finish that process at the end of next year.
The department will then open up the bidding process for the local road work in 2014.
It was originally planned for the local road work to be done when the main interstate road work was supposed to start in 2018.
But the DOT says starting earlier will ease the construction burden on Bettendorf.
A project that worries business owners.
Concept Bath owner Debbie Hereau says, "I'm worried about the flow of traffic to my business, one of the reasons I bought the building in Bettendorf was to have the access to 74."
The bridge project itself was approved this summer in the federal transportation bill.
It is still waiting for funding.
But once the funding is there, construction of the new bridge is expected to take five years.
The DOT says all the planning for the I-74 rebuild is complete.
Although Illinois has about 10 percent more local road planning to finish up for this project.
You can find a link to the Bettendorf road plans here.
