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The present bridge was built by local city governments in two stages, c. 1930s and c. 1960 and was known as the Twin Bridges until being adopted as part of the Interstate system c. 1980, at which time the original toll booths were removed. It was substandard (too few and too narrow lanes for the traffic it bears) for the Interstate system when adopted yet carries the majority of the local intra-urban traffic. It's long overdue for an upgrade.

I DON'T think the current political bluffing will much interfere with its completion. Rather Bustos, a typical liberal Rat, albeit better looking than average reflecting her prior occupation as a TV anchorette, is playing the common liberal scare card implying that the most needed and wanted funding (and in this case reasonably constitutional—it literally IS for interstate commerce) will be cancelled when there's loads of illegitimate pork elsewhere in the bill that needs cutting. I'd prefer the bridge be funded by establishing a Compact between IA and IL with some method of local revenues, preferably not traffic slowing tolls. But given the existence of the Intrastate Highway system it is at least as legit as any other Federal expenditure on that.