Moline plans significant capital improvement projects over the next three years

At Moline’s July 9 city council meeting, the council approved the amended 2024 capital improvement plan, and the capital improvement plans for 2025, 2026 and 2027. Approval of the plans allows for preliminary engineering on these projects to begin.

“It’s kind of our roadmap,” Moline’s Director of Engineering, David Dryer, said in an interview with the Dispatch-Argus/Quad-City Times.

According to the city of Moline website, funding for the capital improvement plan comes from sources like stormwater fees, water utility funding, wastewater fees, utility tax, motor fuel tax, local option sales tax, American Rescue Plan Act funds and other grant funds.

Dryer said that capital improvements seemed to be an increasing priority for the city, in part due to members of the city council hearing from their constituents. According to the Capitol Improvements Project List from the July 9 city council agenda, total capital expenditures will be nearly $28 million in 2024, over $38.5 million in 2025, nearly $20 million in 2026 and over $21 million in 2027.

“It’s (a) pretty full (schedule), this is more than we’ve done historically,” Dryer said. “I think we’re making headway.”

At a previous roundtable discussion with Moline City Council on June 11, 2024, Dryer said the engineering department weighs different factors when deciding which project to approach next. Some of the considerations include the city’s strategic plan and goals, age of infrastructure, the volume of traffic and the availability of funding and grants. All can influence whether a road in need of repairs is dealt with sooner rather than later.

“Each one’s individual, there’s not a formula that can replace human review and consideration,” Dryer said in July.

While these projects can fluctuate based on emergencies, weather, shifting priorities and new funding opportunities, the passage of the plan lays out specific projects to budget for and work towards. Barring any major changes, here are five significant capital improvement projects that Moline residents can look forward to in 2025.

The dramatic increase in capital spending for 2025 is driven in large part by a $12.5 million Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP) grant the city expects to receive for the Arsenal Bridge deck. Among other things, DCIP grants are designed to address deficiencies in community infrastructure, supportive of a military installation, to enhance military value, installation resilience and military family quality of life.

Residents of downtown Moline may be pleased to see that $2 million is budgeted for the construction of quiet zones. After previously failing to secure a grant for the project, the city has submitted a plan to the Federal Railroad Administration for the five railroad crossings downtown: 12th Street, 15th Street, 17th Street, 19th Street and 23rd Street. Following federal approval of the plan, construction would begin to add gates on both sides of the streets, medians making it more difficult for drivers to go around lowered gates, and other changes. Then trains would not have to blow their horns at those crossings unless there was an emergency.

Thirtieth Avenue from 14th Street to 16th Street will undergo a full reconstruction. Relying on a mixture of funding sources, this project is expected to cost around $2.7 million. Dryer said that it’s so costly because all of the underground utilities need to be redone, but that he’s excited to get it taken care of.

Another street reconstruction planned for 2025 is Seventh Avenue from 15th Street to 18th Street. Currently in the design phase, the Capital Improvements Projects List has $3.75 million budgeted for reconstruction of the street.

An additional $500,000 is budgeted for the reconstruction of the Seventh Street and 16th Avenue intersection.

For cyclists and walkers, Phase 2 of the Mississippi River to Rock River side path is also expected to begin in 2025, with $3.75 million budgeted for this ongoing project.