The preferred design for new Interstate-80 bridges in the Quad Cities has just two lanes for both directions of traffic. Steve Robery of the Illinois D-O-T says when his agency and the Iowa DOT started the planning process, the expectation was there would be three lanes on both sides.
“We have analyzed the traffic. We’ve coordinated with the metropolitan planning organizations in the Quad Cities and to our surprise when we looked into…traffic levels 38 years from now and three lanes across the bridge is not warranted,” Robery says.
However, Robery says what he calls an “auxiliary lane” is part of the plan — along the entire span of both bridges — and to accomodate traffic merging onto or exiting I-80. “We will be able to accommodate an added lane on inside, on the space between the bridges if, in the future, an additional through lane is warranted,” Robery says.
Source : Radio
