Black Hawk Bridge, Lansing, IowaPhoto: Iowa Department of Transportation
(Lansing, IA) -- A free water taxi will soon transport people over the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa. The service will be in place until bridge repairs are made. Engineers confirmed last month the bridge at Lansing, Iowa needed to be closed due to damage. Tests found the existing bridge has moved a little bit due to construction of another bridge nearby.
An estimated 22-hundred vehicles cross the bridge each day.
The bridge closure has caused a 30-to-40 mile detour for drivers.
U-S Senators from Iowa and Wisconsin are urging that the Black Hawk Bridge, also known as the Lansing Bridge, be fixed quickly. Senators Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, Tammy Baldwin, and Ron Johnson are urging the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to continue working with the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) through the Emergency Relief (ER) program.
“The bridge’s closure impacts thousands of Wisconsinites and Iowans, with an estimated 2,200 vehicles previously crossing the bridge daily, and there are limited other options for crossing the river,” the senators wrote. “We strongly support the efforts to get the existing bridge reopened and request that FHWA continue to work with the Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation to restore traffic on this bridge as soon as possible.”
The water taxi service will run between Lansing, Iowa and Crawford County, Wisconsin seven days a week, until the bridge is repaired. More information on the free service is available HERE.