October 20 closure marks the end of an era ...
The Monday, October 20 permanent closure of the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing marks the end of the iconic structure’s service to those who crossed the Mississippi River between Lansing and Wisconsin Highway 35 over a period of 94 years. Although such a closure was not originally planned to take place until much closer to the anticipated Spring 2027 completion of the bridge currently being constructed to take over those crossing duties, safety concerns regarding construction activity for that new bridge impacting the structural integrity of the older bridge that was first opened for duty in 1931 forced the Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation to come to the decision that the Black Hawk Bridge would need to be closed and eventually dismantled and demolished, which will take place as the remainder of this calendar year 2025 unfolds.
Notable in the surrounding photos from both the Iowa side entrance of the bridge (top photos by Joe Moses) and the Wisconsin side approach to the bridge (bottom photos by Julie Berg-Raymond), are not only the Road Closed signs that appropriately stand guard in the darker shadowed foreground of each photo but also the sun shining brightly on the historic structure as the beginning of its ultimate end got underway Monday morning, October 20. Evident in the two photos at left are the beginnings of the steel structure of the new bridge (at left in both the top and bottom photos) as it is being constructed on the Iowa side to the north of the old bridge, while in the distant middle of the top photo at left is a crew on the bridge itself already beginning preparation that same Monday morning for cutting and removal of the steel grid bridge deck and some supporting beams that will weaken the bridge structure and allow for easier implosion of the Black Hawk Bridge currently scheduled for mid-December.
The photo at bottom right shows additional work also already taking place that same Monday morning as the bridge closure on the Wisconsin side of the bridge to the east. That work involves construction of a new approach to the new bridge on the segment of roadway between the Big Slough Bridge and the new bridge itself, a part of the overall project that would have eventually shut down the Black Hawk Bridge as originally planned, closer to the opening date of the new bridge, but currently being undertaken during the two-week waiting period for the car ferry that is scheduled in early November to begin serving the crossing of the river the bridges once served and will be serving again.
