2025 ACEC-IL ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE AWARD
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

Images, Inc., has successfully led public involvement and strategic communications for the I-80 Mississippi Bridge project through both the expected and the unforeseen – from delivering Iowa and Illinois’ first live online public meeting at the height of COVID in March, 2020, to facing an unprecedented grassroots “Bison Bridge” campaign that fueled more than 1,000 public comments in four public meetings.

Robust public engagement has been a hallmark of the project, with Images delivering a multi-faceted strategy that included community meetings, dynamic newsletters, videos and fact sheets, and a user-friendly website that not only served as a hub for all project information, but also the site for four live public meetings and question and answer sessions that have attracted 2,000 participants.

Working hand-in-glove with the project team, Images, Inc., led the pivot that delivered the state’s first live online public meeting in 2020. The move required creation of a project website and content, reworking of meeting invites, announcements and materials, and introduction of a question and answer platform that allowed stakeholders to question project team leaders without leaving their homes. On April 22, 2020 – exactly one week after the traditional public meeting was scheduled – more than 500 stakeholders participated in the Illinois Department of Transportation’s first ever Virtual Public Meeting to launch the I80 Over the Mississippi PEL.

The success of that initial meeting fueled public involvement as the project moved into Phase I, with robust and wide-ranging discussion panels and interactions defining the project as it faced a grassroots “Bison Bridge” campaign to repurpose the existing I-80 bridge as a wildlife attraction. The idea captured the imagination of the community, generating 7,500 petition signatures, community events and hundreds of public comment submissions.

In response, Images, Inc., led the project team in ensuring rapid and comprehensive public comment responses and expanded project materials, illustrations and renderings to effectively explain the project and its purpose to the public. In-person outreach was also expanded, with small group meetings held with leaders and community members in the neighboring communities of Rapids City, IL, and LeClaire, Iowa. Through those meetings, a cooperative vision for an alternative multi-use path was created, with communities ultimately entering into a Memorandum of Understanding to make it possible.

With greater understanding of the project and its purpose and aligned support from neighboring communities, public comments and discussion moved away from the “Bison Bridge” concept to support of a multi-use path. Designs for the path and connections to existing paths were detailed at the October, 2024, Public Hearing, generating nearly universal support in public comments. As the project advances to Phase II, an expectation of extensive Public Involvement has been created in the community that will ultimately result in a stronger product for communities and stakeholders, and a stronger working relationship with the state departments of transportation.