RAPIDS CITY, Illinois -
Traffic headaches are pooping up all over the Quad Cities because of the I-80 bridge closing. Tuesday night the Illinois Department of Transportation crews shut down the Illinois-bound lanes of the bridge because of a failed inspection.
Workers found a problem with one of the beams running under the length of the 43-year-old bridge. The state quickly closed off the lanes and rerouted traffic to either I-74 or I-280.
On I-74 traffic is slow going. That's for two reasons the construction near 7th Avenue on the other side of the bridge and because this is the detour for eastbound traffic for I-80.
From the Illinois side of the Mississippi River you can see all the traffic moving in just one direction over the I-80 bridge. Which means no one is asking Betty Gibson any questions at the Mississippi Rapids Visitor Center.
"This is usually our busy time then end of May the RVers are starting and kids are getting out of school."
Gibson's gives directions for free, but at the Bridgeview Inn in Rapids City no traffic is coming at a high cost.
Manager Caroline Byrne explains, "The bar would be full and these two tables would be full it has an impact."
With detour signs popping up to let everyone know of the change, Byrne says longer commutes equals fewer customers.
"So, you're not going to stop anywhere. I wouldn't if I got off work and I knew my commute was going to be 45 minutes longer I wouldn't stop anywhere so that affects every business along 84."
For their customers who did come in. They live in Port Byron and work in Iowa. The ride home over I-74 through Moline around 84 is not a detour they relish.
Dale Klavon says, "It's miserable, congested takes a lot of extra time."
The new commute may hurt the place where he eats, but Klavon says it doesn't hurt his bottom line driving a dump truck.
"It's kind of our bread and butter so we can't complain too much with working in the construction field we just got to deal with it I guess."
Illinois DOT's John Wegmeyer says they are trying to accommodate all of this extra traffic on I-74 by wrapping up the construction near 7th Avenue. That should be done by tomorrow night or Friday morning. So there will be two full lanes going into Illinois.
Wegmeyer added he doesn't know how long it will take to reopen the Illinois bound lanes for I-80 for now they are estimating it will be several weeks.
Workers found a problem with one of the beams running under the length of the 43-year-old bridge. The state quickly closed off the lanes and rerouted traffic to either I-74 or I-280.
On I-74 traffic is slow going. That's for two reasons the construction near 7th Avenue on the other side of the bridge and because this is the detour for eastbound traffic for I-80.
From the Illinois side of the Mississippi River you can see all the traffic moving in just one direction over the I-80 bridge. Which means no one is asking Betty Gibson any questions at the Mississippi Rapids Visitor Center.
"This is usually our busy time then end of May the RVers are starting and kids are getting out of school."
Gibson's gives directions for free, but at the Bridgeview Inn in Rapids City no traffic is coming at a high cost.
Manager Caroline Byrne explains, "The bar would be full and these two tables would be full it has an impact."
With detour signs popping up to let everyone know of the change, Byrne says longer commutes equals fewer customers.
"So, you're not going to stop anywhere. I wouldn't if I got off work and I knew my commute was going to be 45 minutes longer I wouldn't stop anywhere so that affects every business along 84."
For their customers who did come in. They live in Port Byron and work in Iowa. The ride home over I-74 through Moline around 84 is not a detour they relish.
Dale Klavon says, "It's miserable, congested takes a lot of extra time."
The new commute may hurt the place where he eats, but Klavon says it doesn't hurt his bottom line driving a dump truck.
"It's kind of our bread and butter so we can't complain too much with working in the construction field we just got to deal with it I guess."
Illinois DOT's John Wegmeyer says they are trying to accommodate all of this extra traffic on I-74 by wrapping up the construction near 7th Avenue. That should be done by tomorrow night or Friday morning. So there will be two full lanes going into Illinois.
Wegmeyer added he doesn't know how long it will take to reopen the Illinois bound lanes for I-80 for now they are estimating it will be several weeks.
