Bi-State Regional Commission

April 7, 2017 –  We can’t wait for spring—and here’s why! On Saturday, April 8, 2017, people across the country will celebrate the nation’s fifth annual Opening Day for Trails.

Opening Day for Trails is a national event organized by the Rails to Trails Conservancy to encourage people across the country to officially kick off spring by hitting their favorite pathways.

Whether you’ve been out on the trail all year long, or have been waiting for warmer weather, Opening Day is a great way to officially kick off the season and explore trails!

In the Quad Cities Area, you can find opportunities for physical activity on over 75 trails using the free, user-friendly, interactive, and mobile-responsive website, QCTrails.org.

For a 15th year, the Bi-State Regional Commission is hosting a series of webinars sponsored by the American Planning Association (APA) and others.  The dates and topics are listed below.  These webinars are one and a half hours in length, unless otherwise noted. Attendance of planning staff, planning and zoning commissions/board members, and board of adjustment members is strongly encouraged.  This is a terrific training opportunity for planning and zoning commissions and is provided as part of Bi-State Regional Commission membership.

• Wednesday, July 5, 2017 – 3:00-4:30 p.m.

2017 Planning Law Review (1.5 hours)
This annual review delves into the important cases, the decisions that were made – or not made – and how this will affect planning at many levels.  Legal experts and members of APA’s amicus curiae committee fill you in on what you need to know.
Certification Maintenance – This webinar has been approved for CM | 1.5

All conferences will be held on the Third Floor of Rock Island County Office Building, 1504 Third Avenue, Rock Island.  The public entrance to the building is from Third Avenue.  Please plan to arrive by 2:45 p.m.

Contact Patty Pearson at (309) 793-6302, Ext. 138 or via e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to register or for questions.  For those calling long distance, you may contact me toll-free at 1-888-BISTATE.

March 22, 2017 – The largest infrastructure project in the Bi-State Region’s history will begin this year due to the persistence and leadership of all those involved.  The Bi-State Regional Commission adopted the Interstate 74 Bridge corridor project as the number one transportation priority in the Bi-State Region in 1998.  Since that time, four long-range transportation plans have been developed by the Bi-State Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the project has continued to be the top priority.  There have been over 14 changes in engineering and planning leadership between the Illinois and Iowa Departments of Transportation and over 20 chief elected official changes on the Transportation Policy Committee since 1998.  With all of these changes, the Bi-State Regional Commission has continued to communicate a unified message of support for the project.

January 25, 2017 – Lisa Miller, Data/GIS Director, reported that since its launch in 2010, the web-based data portal for our region, www.GreaterQCRegion.org, has housed data for the five-county region, Illinois and Iowa, and the U.S.  Users can select an area and get a quick report with key indicators or dig deeper into the data and get detailed reports or time series for these data.

January 25, 2017 –  The highest elected official or other administrative staff in your community recently received correspondence from the U.S. Census Bureau related to the Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS) Program.  This is an important opportunity for your community to ensure that its boundaries are correct in the Census Bureau files.  The Census Bureau uses the boundary information collected in the BAS to tabulate data for the decennial and economic censuses, and annual estimates and surveys such as the Population Estimates Program and the American Community Survey.  More information is available in the flyer pictured below.  For assistance in navigating this program or submitting your community’s BAS response, please contact Lisa Miller, Data/GIS Director, (309) 793-6302, ext. 133 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

December 21, 2016 –  Colonel Kenneth Tauke, Rock Island Arsenal (RIA), presented his vision for the future of the installation.  The campaign plan goes out 30 years into 2040, and focus areas include integrating the RIA with the larger Quad Cities community, adapting to a 21st century workforce, improving the quality of life, transforming the functionality of the installation, and focusing on infrastructure and sustainability.

May 25, 2016 – The following table details the construction projects for the Quad Cities Area as of May 25, 2016:

November 16, 2016 – David Gobin, Muscatine Director of Planning and Community Development, spoke on efforts by the City of Muscatine and local private partners to examine the feasibility of an intermodal container port in Muscatine, Iowa.  There are no intermodal container facilities on the upper Mississippi River north of St. Louis to date.  With many of the containerized ports on the coasts, and potential increasing opportunities for containerized shipping on the Mississippi River, the idea came about as part of Muscatine’s participation in both statewide freight plan development and a commodity optimization study by Iowa Department of Transportation (IADOT) and Iowa Department of Economic Development.

October 26, 2016 – Bi-State Regional Commission celebrated its 50th Anniversary of being a planning agency on October 26, 2016 at Camden Centre in Milan Illinois.  Randy Blankenhorn, Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation and Paul Trombino, Director of the Iowa Department of Transportation presented information on the importance of Metropolitan Planning Organizations like Bi-State in the development of the transportation system and on the future automation of people and freight travel.

November 16, 2016 – November 16, 2016 is GIS Day!  It provides an opportunity for Geographic Information System (GIS) users to promote and demonstrate the benefits of this technology that has revolutionized the delivery of spatial information.
Local governments use GIS to improve decision making, service delivery, and citizen engagement.  Since most government data is location-based, sharing this information using GIS can help operations run more smoothly and also give citizens more open, positive experiences.