Black Hawk Bridge to be closed permanently Monday morning, October 20; Car ferry to begin operation a couple weeks later
Residents and visitors from Lansing and surrounding communities offered their ceremonious farewell to the Black Hawk Bridge during a series of events held in Lansing Saturday, October 11. A Memorial Day celebration event was held at T.J. Hunter’s Banquet Hall during the afternoon hours and involved displays of history and memorabilia regarding the Black Hawk Bridge, along with kids activities, live music and other activities to participate in, all in celebration and honor of the bridge that has spanned the Mississippi River at Lansing for the past 94 years but that will be permanently closed as of Monday, October 20 and eventually demolished later this year (see article below) as its replacement continues to be constructed. A Farewell Celebration and Final Toast event (similar to what is pictured above) took place in the early evening hours at Shep’s Patio and along the adjacent riverfront. That event included a Farewell Blessing (shared on Page 3 of this week’s edition of The Standard) written by Pastor Laura Gentry of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, and a final farewell toast facilitated by the anonymous donation of commemorative glasses etched with a design of the Black Hawk Bridge and a free drink so all in attendance could say their final good-byes to this span of many memories that has served the community so well for so many years. Additional photos from Saturday’s events can be found in this week’s edition of The Standard. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.
The Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation (DOT) announced Tuesday, October 7 that they will be permanently closing the Black Hawk Bridge between Lansing and Crawford County, WI Monday, October 20 at 7 a.m. in order to facilitate further construction of the new bridge spanning that same area, with that new bridge scheduled to open in spring of 2027. The October 20 closing date follows an initial announcement made July 14 of this year that the Black Hawk Bridge would have to be permanently closed much earlier than originally anticipated in the bridge project plans due to the driving of pile used to support the steel being utilized to build the new bridge causing movement and impacting the integrity and safety of the Black Hawk Bridge beyond allowable protocols.
Iowa DOT District Engineer Clayton Burke, the project manager for the bridge replacement project at Lansing, says the October 20 closing date involved several factors in its determination. Those factors included the overall continued progress for the project as a whole and the availability of the car ferry in early November that will be put in place to help accommodate crossing that main channel of the Mississippi River the Black Hawk Bridge has served for over 90 years and that the new bridge will continue to serve once it is completed.
“One consideration we have is that we want to keep the contractor moving as fast as we possibly can on the construction of the new bridge, which means we have to finish the demolition of the existing bridge first,” Burke offered. “We were initially considering October 15 as the soonest that we could get that process started and get all of our approvals in place that we need (for the bridge demolition plan). Another consideration we had is that we need the car ferry to be in place, and that if we started on October 15 (with closure and demolition), that is a long period (October 15 into early November) without any service for crossing the river for anyone. We had internal discussions, and we needed to set a limit on that period where we were not providing any service for the crossing, and the discussion was to limit that to two weeks, and in those two weeks we could make the most of it and get some work done that we have to do on the Wisconsin side anyway.”
Burke further explained that the two-week period between the October 20 bridge closing and the anticipated car ferry availability in early November will allow for work to be done now that would have forced at least a two-week closure at a later period in the construction process. That work that will now be done during the upcoming two-week timeframe between the October 20 bridge closure and the first car ferry availability will involve the Big Slough Bridge, the smaller bridge located just to the east of the Black Hawk Bridge.
“We’ve always needed to replace the bridge approach that connects to the Big Slough Bridge just after the existing bridge,” Burke explained. “That bridge is so narrow, that there is no way for us to do that one side at a time. We have to close both sides of that roadway to replace that approach. We’ve always mentioned that there was going to be a two-week closure at some point during the construction project, and that closure was to reconstruct this bridge approach. So, now that we have two weeks where we’re closing the bridge and not providing any (crossing) service, we saw that as a good opportunity to get that work done so that we don’t have to close the car ferry or the crossing for a two-week timeframe in the future. That’s how we came up with that October 20 date; we think the car ferry will be available about two weeks after that date.”
Burke further explained that the closure for the Big Slough Bridge portion of the project will involve closure starting at the east side of Big Slough Bridge, with no vehicle access to the Big Slough boat landing during that two-week period. He said the remainder of Wisconsin Highway 82 will be open, including the Winneshiek Slough boat landing further to the east.
To read the full article, pick up the Wednesday, October 15, 2025 print edition of The Standard or subscribe to our e-edition or print edition by clicking here.
