Dismissed, Not Decided

Is Rehabilitation of the Existing Centennial Bridge the Actual Community Choice?

CENTENNIAL BRIDGE - PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN SCHULTZ

The final public comments, gathered by the Illinois and Iowa Departments of Transportation between April 30th and June 8th, 2026, were published on CentennialBridge.com this week.

The volume of input during the third collection period was remarkable, with more community members engaging in the process both in person and through electronic and mail submissions.

	Attendance	Comments in the record
PM #1 — Apr 17, 2025, Rock Island	121	49
PM #2 — Jan 28, 2026, Davenport	157	90
PM #3 — May 20, 2026, Rock Island	181	190

Rock Island Line analyzed public comments from round three and found the following:

Position	Comments
E2 — new span just west of the existing bridge	63
Rehabilitate the existing bridge	42
E7 — 11th Street to Marquette Street	27
No position stated	20
Opposed to E7, no alternative named	17
New bridge, alignment not specified	13
No Build	3
Either E2 or E7 acceptable	3
Other or unclear	3

The DOTs elected to remove the field for "affiliation" from the third round of comment collection, making it more difficult to detect special interests.

Position	Rounds 1–2 (139)	Round 3 (191)	Combined
Keep or rehabilitate the existing bridge	26 (19%)	42 (22%)	68 (21%)
E2 — at or beside the current location	17 (12%)	63 (33%)	80 (24%)
E7 — 11th Street to Marquette	38 (27%)	27 (14%)	65 (20%)
Opposed to E7, no alternative named	not coded separately	17 (9%)	17 (5%)
No position stated	49 (35%)	20 (10%)	69 (21%)

The percentages will not equal 100% because not all positions are shown, such as "no build," "new bridge - alignment not stated," and "other."

E2 Emerges as Most Favored

Over the course of public comment, a preference for E7, building from Marquette to 11th Street, was overcome by a preference for E2, replacing alongside the current Centennial Bridge.

Residents expressing support for E2 emphasized ease of traveling between downtowns for business and pleasure. Several commenters named the Quad Cities Marathon and the St. Patrick's Society parade, as well as being able to walk or bike between Farmer's Markets and cultural events.

As a law practitioner in downtown Rock Island, I can go back and forth between Rock Island offices [and] courthouse to Scott offices and courthouse in Davenport.

Sarah Gorhman

It's so much easier to be right where everything is happening when you're getting off the bridge to the farmers markets, the Quad Cities Arts, the Figge, River Bandits games, the Adler, restaurants, and multiple entertainment venues.

Ola Greet

Other commenters examined the DOTs findings and endorsed E2 for having minimal impact according to their published graphics.

E2 appears to be the winner as per the Level 2 Screening Results; no red with the fewest yellow and the most green.

Ryan Taylor

E7 Faces Growing Pushback

By the final round of recorded comments, support for E7 dropped 13%. Further analysis of the results shows that much of the support for E2, building alongside the Centennial, was based solely or in part on resistance to the bridge coming through the West End of Rock Island. Rock Island Line examined support for E2 in the third round of public comment and found the following:

Reasoning	Comments
Affirmative only - cites E2's own merits	29
Both - names E2 advantages and E7 harms	18
Defensive only - entire stated reason is avoiding E7	14
No reason given	2

Analysis shows that an additional 32 people expressed an issue with E7 (11th Street) in their support for E2 (replacing alongside Centennial). Presenting two options during the final public meeting established an either/or, making a vote for E2 serve as a vote against E7 and vice versa. Public comments related to E7 included the following:

My mom is the 4th generation connected to that home, and I am the 5th generation. Our family's roots there go all the way back to my great-great-grandparents... Please remember that behind every address are real people, real families, and generations of history.

Kelyn Wilson

The 67 Expressway in the early 60s divided the West End community, demolished hundreds of residences (upward of 400) mostly Black occupied, and dispersed almost 4,000 residents[,] ended small businesses and caused a drop in the city's population.

Vincent Thomas

Who is this bridge truly for? If the answer is not the current residents—if it leads to displacement, increased housing pressure, and the erosion of community identity—then this is not revitalization. It is repetition of past harm.

Charlia Davis

Rock Island and both state and federal DOTs already decided to invest in US 67 near Blackhawk Road. The goal is to make the neighborhood safer and more friendly to pedestrians and bicyclists. Since that project is in the budget and will be completed, it only makes sense to continue that concept throughout the corridor all the way to the Mississippi River.

Michelle Pullen

The West End is in an incredible period of revitalization, and to kneecap that progress when there is an alternative option is unacceptable to the people of Rock Island. Keep Centennial where it is, keep Rock Islanders in Rock Island.

Noel Huntley

The Rock Island Academy, located at 930 14th Street, draws a significant number of students from the area west of 11th Street... That school currently has approx. 570 students and that number is expected to continue rising. Safe crossing options for pedestrians will be essential.

Tamara Felden

West End residents' opposition to E7 outnumbers support and the West End Revitalization team, operating through the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, sent a formal letter to IDOT cautioning against moving the bridge to 11th street without a serious guarantee of support to offset the burdens the community will absorb. The letter states, in part, "E7, or any corridor-altering alternative, should only be considered if accompanied by a defined, enforceable set of protections, transparency requirements, community accountability measures, and coordinated investment commitments."

Some community members support the new bridge coming in on 11th street.

My office directly overlooks the intersection at the current Centennial Bridge approach in Rock Island... this intersection divides the Rock Island County Office Building from the County Courthouse. Hundreds of times each day, county personnel and members of the public must cross this intersection on foot to transact vital government business. Unfortunately, speeding and other traffic violations (like running red lights) are a constant occurrence.

Nick Camlin

The areas that the bridge would impact have already been partially cleared of homes/buildings, the 11th St. corridor has been improved and connects to Blackhawk Rd. and Route 67. 11th St. has many areas that can be developed with increased traffic. It removes the traffic near downtown Rock Island which is heavy at certain times.

Joseph Gilman

11th Street needs more traffic to encourage growth and stability. The west ends of both Davenport and Rock Island have long been neglected and need the pick me up.

Laura Hinds

We own a property on 3rd ave. & 11th St. in Rock Island. We can't seem to sell so it would be wonderful for this project to add life to that area for everyone down there... Rock Island needs this shot in the arm.

No Name

Is Rehabilitation the Actual Community Choice?

Rehabilitation remained a strong contender for community choice, even after it was reportedly removed from the discussion by the DOTs recommendation team. Rock Island Line found the following comment to be the most comprehensive and compelling of all feedback provided.

I attended the 3rd public meeting and was surprised that the rehabilitation option was no longer recommended as an option from the project team. This option is 1/3 to 1/4 of the cost of the remaining recommendations, provides improved bike and pedestrian accommodations, and has no impact on historical spaces. This bridge connects two downtown areas, making the desire to increase the load capacity of this bridge an unneeded improvement, which may end up encouraging unwanted larger and heavier traffic through pedestrian-rich areas. This "improvement" can be discarded to make the option even more attractive. The option of rehabilitation is both feasible and prudent, extending the bridges use for nearly half a century further.

Furthermore, I think the categorization of the options as "moving forward" or "dismissed" gave the impression that if an option is dismissed then it is no longer an option. When asked for a project team member to clarify, he said that the "dismissed" language along with a stamp of a red circle with a line through it simply meant that the project team was no longer recommending that option; not that it was no longer an option. I shared this is not what the words and images imply, and people may be ignoring the details of the "dismissed" options altogether because they think that it's "no longer an option."

Regarding the two recommended options, I prefer having the bridge just west of the existing bridge, due to existing traffic control and cross-traffic that would slow vehicle traffic down entering either Davenport or Rock Island. When asking about any traffic calming techniques within these bridge designs, the only ideas were "paint" and "flashing lights." These are not proven methods to encourage driving at safe speeds. The lack of any reasonable safety design improvements shows a lack of safety concern by the project team.

Because of this, I do not trust that proper attention would be given to the safety of residents of 11th street in Rock Island if a bridge were to connect to this road directly. It is about 1.25 miles from River Drive in Davenport to 7th Avenue in Rock Island. Currently there are no traffic lights in this stretch, encouraging drivers to continue driving 45-50mph through residential neighborhoods. A bridge here would not incentivize more business on the 11th street; it would simply allow drivers to speed more efficiently through Rock Island without stopping. This country's history of building fast, efficient car travel through older, poorer neighborhoods is not welcome in Rock Island.

Alex North

Alex's comments highlight a crucial point - rehabilitation is not necessarily off the table. If the DOTs presented rehabilitation as dismissed by putting a red mark on the poster board at the May 20th, 2026 meeting, community members may have assumed rehabilitation was not a viable choice.

The fact that 42 residents were still in favor of an option that was being presented as dead-on-arrival, though technically still alive, leads one to believe that the rehabilitation choice may have risen to #1.

Former Mayor Mark Schwiebert wrote the following in his public comment:

Neither alternatives proposed by the DOT's is favored, as overly costly as well as unnecessarily disruptive to current economic, transportation, and historic elements. The western (E-7) alternative is particularly disruptive of existing commercial and residential (including HUD) properties, as well as of West End redevelopment planning. In addition to entailing untenable intersection problems, it is also almost $60 million more costly than the Easterly alternative (E-2) and nearly four times more costly than the preferred alternative of Rehabilitation of the existing Centennial Bridge. Meanwhile, the E2 alternative is over three times as costly as rehabbing the Centennial without including unknown costs of environmental remediation and of removal of the existing bridge. It also overbuilds for essentially local roadway traffic at this crossing; particularly when three major interstate bridges are located within close proximity of Centennial - all able to handle 80,000 pound/18 wheel semis the DOTs desire to accommodate. Add to these cost factors, less transportation disruption, historic and iconic advantages of rehabbing the Centennial Bridge, and its viability (if properly maintained) for at least another 40 years by DOT estimates. All these factors demonstrate the prudence in taxpayer's savings in rehabbing the Centennial Bridge as the preferred alternative for the corridor. It s noted, the listing of the Centennial Bridge on the National Register of Historic Places since 2020, precludes its removal or demolition absent "any feasible or prudent alternative". The foregoing all make clear that rehabbing the Centennial Bridge is not only feasible, but the most prudent use of taxpayers dollars of the three alternatives of E-2, E-3 and rehabilitation, thereby precluding its removal.

Mark Schwiebert

Rock Island Line's Recommendation

The Departments of Transportation concluded a community feedback process by asking a narrow question: E7 or E2? The community answered a wider one.

Read ALL the comments straight through and a narrative about what this community actually wants emerges. Rock Islanders want safety, calm streets, safe paths to school and work, bike paths, preservation of historic sites, economic development, investment in the West End, ease of travel between downtowns, keeping people in their homes, AND there is a large desire to bring good-paying construction jobs to our area to support the local unions and trades.

There is a way to answer both. Rock Island Alderman Dylan Parker put it in the record:

Would it be possible to use the allocated funds from the federal government & the state of Illinois to rehab the existing bridge structure and then repair 11th St. with the remaining funds? If I understand all the numbers correctly, with half the amount from the federal government and only that budgeted from the state of Illinois, that would leave $75M to rehab the existing structure and then $112.5M to repair 11th St. I proposed this idea to Mr. Thurgood Brooks with the West End Revitalization project and he was tentatively supportive. I don't know if the funds allocated for bridge repair/replacement can be used for road repair, though.

Is this solution too reasonable and grounded in a real community assessment to gain traction?

The apprehension in the West End is not abstract, and it is not in opposition to investment. It is the reasonable conclusion of watching what is actually being done here. Corinthia Dothard put the question to IDOT directly at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in June: if the agency cares about 11th Street and the people who live along it - a corridor it is already responsible for - why has it been allowed to deteriorate for so long?

Rock Island has shown it knows how to build a better street. The city won a $22.7 million federal RAISE grant to redesign 11th Street between 31st Avenue and Blackhawk Road. Here, the plan is a road diet to calm traffic and improve safety, ADA-compliant sidewalks, and pedestrian improvements. A road that is safer, slower, and built for people on foot. That's what people on the north side of 11th Street want too. Streets that connect community, given that we already have major highways to the East and Southwest.

So do both things the community actually asked for.

Rehabilitate the Centennial Bridge. The DOTs' own study says it is feasible, their own numbers -- $74 million against $237 to $295 million -- say it is prudent. Section 4(f) says that when it is both, the bridge stays. And the rehabilitation scope the agencies themselves priced already includes the improved bike and pedestrian accommodations that people have asked for in all three rounds of comment.

Then take the difference and spend it on the road IDOT has been responsible for all along. Extend the road diet north. Signal the crossings. Build the sidewalks and bike lanes. Make the walk to Rock Island Academy safe and easy. Pull the West End closer to the rest of the community rather than cutting it off even further.

And bring the good-paying union jobs to do the work. The trades showed up at the public meetings in good faith to bring the best opportunities for their unions and families. Rehabilitating a 1940 riveted steel tied-arch span may require lead abatement, rivet and steel replacement, and deck and pier work. These are skilled, labor-intensive, and high-paying jobs. Add miles of arterial reconstruction with new drainage, lighting, bike paths, signals and sidewalks, and you have ironworkers, operators, laborers, carpenters and electricians on multi-year projects that serve to connect our downtown corridor to the West End to the Blackhawk Road area, not for industry, but for the people who live here.

Rehabilitate the Centennial Bridge. Fix U.S. 67 in Rock Island. Put people to work doing both. How would the current state and federal funding support a project that extends beyond the rehabilitated bridge through to the RAISE grant area? If rehabilitation is selected, what becomes of the balance of the programmed funds? Do they remain committed to U.S. 67 in Rock Island County or return to the statewide program, or lapse?