IDOT reveals preferred route for new Memorial Bridge at public meeting

QUINCY— There was a packed room Thursday at the Kroc Center to weigh in on the Illinois Department of Transportation’s preferred route for the replacement for the Memorial Bridge.

The route proposes an alignment utilizing the York Street Corridor, which will tie in near the Oakley Lindsay Center.

Jeff Myers, regional engineer for Illinois Department of Transportation Region 4, said they looked at three different alignments throughout their study. 

They chose the York Street option because the cost is a little less and it has lower impacts for the property that will need to be acquired.

Selection of the preferred alternative was done by giving consideration to design criteria, potential environmental impacts, potential land use/socioeconomic impacts, land acquisition and construction.

The Memorial Bridge is more than 90 years old and carries 7,000 vehicles per day on eastbound U.S. 24 for those crossing from Illinois into Missouri. The bridge once carried traffic in both directions between the two states until Bayview opened in 1987 for those crossing from Missouri into Illinois.

A replacement plan for the Memorial Bridge has been underway since 2014 but was slowed due to a lack of funding. Gov. JB Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois capital plan calls for $150 million for the new bridge, with the State of Missouri reimbursing Illinois half of those dollars upon completion. 

“We have been looking at this for quite a while, and so far we’ve made repairs over the years while trying to keep it in a serviceable state until we can get the new bridge,” he said. “But one of the key points about putting on a different alignment is that we are able to keep that bridge in service until we get the new one constructed.”

Thursday’s meeting should be the last of the three meetings scheduled for public feedback on the project, and will help to complete the environmental part of the study in early 2024.

The next scheduled phase will be the design phase.

The project could begin as early as 2029. Myers said building a new bridge will probably take two or three construction seasons to complete.

For more information, please visit the project webpage at Adams County – Quincy MemorialBridge (illinois.gov).