Spring says IDOT is preparing to replace Memorial Bridge

Spring says IDOT is preparing to replace Memorial Bridge

3 months ago by Bob Gough, QuincyJournal

Mayor brings up topic at State of the City, says it is a long-term project

Along with a recap of the previous year and a look ahead to the current year, Quincy Mayor John Spring also announced some news that could have a major impact on how people come to Quincy.

Spring gave his annual State of the City Address to the Quincy Exchange Club Friday afternoon. At the end of the speech, Spring said the Illinois Department of Transportation will soon anounce the start of a study to replace Memorial Bridge will commence.

Spring says this project is in the very early discussion stages, there's no guarantee where a new bridge would go, so people shouldn't expect any immediate action.

"I am certain we will see a new bridge built, but if it's built where the current bridge is we will only have the Bay View for sometime," Spring said.

Spring said IDOT made him aware of the plan a couple of months ago.

"It's probably going to be a long process...I would hope that once the process has started, we would know we were moving forward toward a new bridge in 5 to 10 years," he said. "Now it's an Illinois bridge and we all know about the sad state of Illinois' finances, so whether there would be monies available in the future...I don't know."

Spring stressed there is nothing wrong with the current Memorial Bridge.

"It's an old structure built in the '30's and it's time for that to be replaced based upon their information."

You can read the topics the mayor touched on in Jamie Busen's preview here. Click here to see the speech.

Spring said the City needs more good news, such as last week's announcement that Knapheide Manufacturing is adding 100 jobs.

"Our goal is to work hard to make sure everyone is proud of our community, but we have to work to bring more jobs to our community," Spring said.