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Quad Cities I-74 Iowa Illinois Mississippi River Bridge Photography

Quad Cities I-74 Iowa Illinois Mississippi River Bridge

This post features photos from our June visit to the Quad Cities for photography of the I-74 Iowa Illinois Mississippi River Bridge. Officially named “The Twin Bridges”, the new transportation infrastructure bridge project spans the Mississippi River connecting Bettendorf, Iowa to Moline, Illinois. We photograph structural art, infrastructure, architecture, buildings, industrial, bridges, transportation, and more around the Nationwide, so we we’re excited to be the selected photographer for this photo project close to home. We set out to capture a variety of photography to include ground photos from the shore, images on the suspension bridge, drone aerial, day, and night images of the arch bridges. It was the perfect summer seasonal weather for the shoot providing for pedestrians and transportation both passing over the new Mississippi River bridges.

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Quad Cities I-74 Iowa Illinois Mississippi River bridge photography

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MILLER+MILLER Architectural Photography was commissioned by Miguel Rosales of Rosales + Partners for a photography architectural photo shoot of the new I-74 bridge in the Quad Cities. The new I-74 Mississippi River crossing bridge construction connects the Illinois and Iowa state’s roads and transportation infrastructure – both a functional bridge with its infrastructure design, yet constructed as beautifully aesthetic designed structural piece of art. The arching white bridges are visible from long range viewpoints miles away from the Illinois and Iowa Mississippi shorelines during the day and when illuminated at night.

The new $1.2-billion bridge fully opened to road traffic on Dec. 2, 2021. The walkable, running, and bike friendly pedestrian portion of the bridge opened for use in April 2022 with the City of Bettendorf IA and Moline IL hosting a bike and pedestrian path dedication on May 18, 2022. Waiting for optimum weather and the exterior landscape with trees in the area to be full of green leaves, our photo shoot proceeded in early June. The I-74 bridge project is part of a regional strategy for improving access across the Mississippi. For updates on the I-74 River Bridge project, visit the bridge construction project website at I74RiverBridge.com.

MILLER+MILLER is a commercial architectural photography company who produces marketing images for architects, contractors, engineers, artists, mechanical, civic, government, and more professional companies. M+M spent the day completing photography of the Mississippi Bridge in Moline Illinois and Bettendorf Iowa capturing variety of vantage points from both the ground level and bird’s eye height in the sky with our drone from sunrise to sunset.

A photography goal was to illustrate not only the final completed structure of the bridge, but also the beautiful landscape surrounding the twin arching bridges. Producing aerial, day, sunset, and night photographs to showcase the bridge’s Summer time season, Midwest landscape, bridge uplighting illumination at night, and architecture structural design. A goal of photographing images for the Quad Cities new landmark twin bridges which artistically capture architectural photos the suspension bridge and twin steel arches bridge structure. The Quad Cities I-74 Iowa Illinois Mississippi River bridge design is a visually memorable and artistic connection for traffic driving over the Mississippi River and between the states of Iowa and Illinois.

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The Interstate 74 (I-74) transportation road bridge reconstruction serves as the primary crossing of the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities of Davenport, Rock Island, Bettendorf, & Moline in Illinois and Iowa. The bridge construction project totaled seven miles of interstate expansion. Design and transportation functionality of the I-74 bridge provides access for the important east-west interstate link in the nation’s Midwest segment of the transportation network with its west end at the I-80 interchange in Davenport Iowa and east terminus at I-75 in Cincinnati.

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Pedestrians and visitors to the bridge river crossing site are able to use the bike and pedestrian path which features on top a scenic overlook with a glass oculus floor. The oculus view point provides the public with a unique view through the glass of the Mississippi River flowing below as well as a viewing platform to view the west setting sunsets over the Mississippi river valley. The 10-foot diameter glass oculus is made of thick, safe to stand on with the tempered glass with a textured surface to provide traction. In the evening, the bridge glows with up lighting, and the entire path is lit at night to include the pedestrian bridge’s summit scenic water overlook. The fully separated pedestrian bridge is ADA accessible. The path connects to existing trails on both sides of the Mississippi River waterway between Davenport, Rock Island, Bettendorf, and Moline. The old I-74 bridge is planned for demolition.

On December 1, 2021, thousands of residents and visitors participated in a celebration walk over the new I-74 River Bridge and celebrated the future of the Quad Cities together. Watch the December recap celebratory walk video on the I-74 River Bridge Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b9p-nDvkyQ

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Congress passed the Whitehouse’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which will rebuild America’s roads, bridges and rails https://www.whitehouse.gov/bipartisan-infrastructure-law/ (in addition to expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has access to high-speed internet, tackle the climate crisis, advance environmental justice, invest in communities.) Government improvements are for the United States ports, airports, rail, and roads reconstructing our nation’s bridges, and construction of interstate highway traffic and transportation systems. MILLER+MILLER Architectural Photography is experience in photographing all types of infrastructure, view additional posts featuring Bridges Transportation Road Highway Marine Airports Utilities Photographer image examples.

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MILLER+MILLER is a husband & wife, Nationwide traveling commercial architectural photography company. Our photographs of the new Quad Cities I-74 Iowa Illinois bridge replacement crossing over the Mississippi River, connecting Iowa to Illinois, features nearly two decades of work from a number of contributors for the bridge development project. From design, to planning, to construction, the build was a collaboration of the project leads listed below, along with all their sub-contracting partners, and countless other entities, businesses, and community members. ( Sources www.constructionequipmentguide.com/crews-place-keystone-on-iowa-illinois-bridge/49218, and the links below).

BRIDGE PROJECT COLLABORATORS & CONTRIBUTORS:
IOWA DOT District 6 Cedar Rapids
Illinois DOT District 2

Awards
American Institute of Steel Construction and the National Steel Bridge Alliance — National Award in the Major Span category of the 2022 Prize Bridge Awards

Design
Rosales + Partners — Architect, conceptual engineering and design of bridges, and type study selection, architectural visualizations and physical models
Modjeski and Masters (M&M), as part of the Alfred Benesch Design Team

Construction Management/General Engineering Consultants
Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions, Inc.
HR Green
Hutchison Engineering Inc.
Knight E/A, Inc
R.M. Chin & Associates, Inc.
Images, Inc. — Public Involvement Strategic Communications Planning

Construction Engineering and Inspection Consultants
R.J. Watson, Inc.
Tenca Steel Detailing, Inc.
Bruner, Cooper & Zuck, Inc.
HNTB
McClure Engineering Associates, Inc

Contractors
Helm Group/Civil Constructors Inc. — Iowa viaduct
Kraemer North America — Illinois viaduct and ramps
K&W Electric — Roadway lighting
Lunda Construction Co. — Main bridge
Minturn — Aesthetic lighting
McCarthy Improvement — Iowa mainline and ramps
Valley Construction — Iowa ramp and mainline storm sewer
Walsh Group — Illinois I-74 mainline and ramps

8-24-23 News Update: The USPS Stamp of The Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge connecting Bettendorf, IA and Moline, IL has officially been released! On August 24, 2023, in Portland, CT, the United States Postal Service has officially issued the non-denominated, Presorted First-Class Mail^® rate (25-cent value) Bridges stamps in four designs in pressure-sensitive adhesive coils of 3,000 and 10,000 quantities. The stamps officially go on sale nationwide on August 24, 2023. The stamps are issued in coils and intended for bulk mail users.

Stamp Image from https://www.djc.com/news/ae/12158817.html?cgi=yes and image courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service

See the official USPS release: https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2023/pb22628/html/info_005.htm

Contact photographers MILLER+MILLER Architectural Photography to photograph your finished architecture, structure, transportation, infrastructure, or construction project. Providing aerial drone photography, video, and exterior night photography services, we look forward to learning about your unique project and your photography image needs. Our husband and wife photography company with 10+ years of working as a commercial photographer provide an experienced ability to capture a variety of exterior angles, elevations, and artistically framed shots of structures, architecture, infrastructure and more through photography and architectural video services.

Below are a few quick links to additional blog posts of structural projects:

View Our Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge & Plaza Renovation Photography Shoot

Click Here to View Our Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project Commercial Photos & Video

Gems World Academy Chicago Exterior Building Photos

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Our client, a Commercial Construction Company, commissioned Miller + Miller Architectural Photography to capture exterior photos of The Gems World Academy building located in Downtown Chicago. The Gems World Academy Chicago is a private, K-12 campus school created for the City of Chicago’s elite students. This new Chicago educational development is described as hotel-esque, collegiate, and upscale for affluent children with tuition noted at incredible $30,000/year per pupil.

This isn’t our first project photographing an education building architectural photography photos shoot. During this project, our image focus was on the skyscraper school, high-rise building construction and architectural pictures of the finished building. We captured architectural pictures of the state-of-the-art school building in Chicago showcasing the building’s primary entrances and angles on the south & west elevations. Each side of the property’s facade has a playful mix of glass, metal, and unique use of bold colors. As a Chicago Architectural Photographer specializing in new construction and unique architecture building photography, we travel the Nation photographing buildings and shooting photos of many of the United State’s best architecturally designed buildings. We enjoyed the modern & strategic use of material details within this building’s design. The modernist facade elevations of Gems World Academy utilizes eye-catching primary colors. Our client requested day time exterior building photography showing off the building’s unique curtain wall and color filled exterior facade panels. The distinctive mid-rise building stands out within the Chicago skyline with modern interlacing and stripes in red, yellow and blue.

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This is 1 out of our 15 buildings we photographed for our Commercial Construction Company’s architectural client photography project. Photos of Chicago’s GEMS World Academy will go up in our client’s portfolio and as printed images in frames hanging on the Construction Company’s office walls. During office tours, photos of GEMS World Academy have a story to tell. The story will have three parts: GEMS’s construction development, the property’s interesting colorful & unique architecture which is highly photographic as a picture printed inside a frame, and the built building’s purpose as an upscale academy. A building & images with a very interesting story.

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The Gems World Academy Chicago building is a 16-story structure, 322,000 square feet school and the property hosts approximately 2,100 students. Commercial construction developers completed phase 1 in 2014. The modern educational development has won awards building design awards, spotlighted in an issue of Architectural Record, and received the prestigious Mies van der Rohe Citation of Merit for Building Innovation from the Illinois chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

The GEMS World Academy Chicago and development is located in downtown Chicago. The GEMS building, located on Water Street near Wacker Drive, has an address of 350 East South Water Street Chicago, IL 60601. The private school, academy is conveniently located in the heart of the City of Chicago. GEMS World Academy Chicago is the first PreK-12 school in the United States from GEMS Education. How amazing is it that Chicago was picked to host to the academy’s first private school in the United States. A mid-rise skyscraper within the Chicago skyline located in the Lakeshore East community, just east of the Loop. The GEMS World Academy program operates private schools in Chicago and is connected to the GEMS education global network of international schools with school sites currently in China, Egypt, India, Kenya and beyond, with additional locations opening soon in Egypt, Uganda, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates. The GEMS World Academy Phase 2 building construction is underway. Click here to see the GEMS World Academy phase 2 building progress and construction photos looking down from the Vista Tower building. We look forward to watching Phase II building’s construction progress over the next few months. As well as, going back on-site to professionally take photographs of the new building after construction has finished.

A stellar international team created, designed and constructed the GEMS World Academy Chicago property. As well as a team of architects, designers, procurement and health and safety experts and educators contributed to the GEMS World Academy Chicago overall student experience & lifestyle. The companies were responsible for The Gems World Academy Chicago building construction are Architect bKL Architecture, General Contractor for the project is Power Construction and Construction Consultants include Halvorson and Partners Structural, WMA Consulting Engineers, MEP/FP by Mackie Consultants Civil Engineering, Wolff Landscape Architecture, Lighting by Archiluce International, and materials glazed curtain wall, LoE vision glass, translucent glass, and metal panels of various widths and colors application by Harmon Inc. Building awards include: AIA IL 2016 Mies van der Rohe Citation of Merit, IIDA RED Award: Exemplary Design in Educational – PK12 Interiors, ENR Midwest Best Projects Award of Merit: K-12 Education, and ASA Chicago Outstanding Project 2015.

Miller + Miller Architectural Photography are Chicago commercial photographers. Our photography company provides commercial photography for properties & architectural photographs to a variety of clients, industries, organizations, and building companies Nationwide, in Chicago and the suburban area in real estate development, architects, skyscraper, construction services, design build construction, and more. Visit our About Us page for a comprehensive look at the variety of building, commercial industries, and view our Portfolio to see additional images of past project photographs. Looking to become a client? Count on our photography experience, professionally photographing properties since 2006, photographing architectural Chicago projects, building shots with views of the skyline, construction marketing images, finished building project photos, construction sites, and more for companies. Contact us to discuss a photo project!