Original plan for intermittent bridge closing for construction being delayed by high water until next week ...

Those who drive on the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing will need to be aware that the upcoming construction work that was scheduled to affect their travels starting the week of Monday, June 17 has now been delayed a week due to high water and wet weather, and is now scheduled to begin next week, Monday, June 24. The photo at right, provided courtesy of the Iowa Department of Transportation, shows the extent of the high water impact on the construction project and the reason for the delay.

An update provided last week by the Iowa Department of Transportation in regard to the project delay stated the following: ”Sometimes Mother Nature wins! Flooding at the Mississippi River Bridge at Lansing construction site is delaying the scheduled short-term bridge closures. The contractor has pulled off the project and the closures will not start next week (June 17) as planned. We are hoping they will start June 24 but will have to see what the river does.”

Weather permitting, crews will continue work on constructing a new pier and driving the pier foundation for the new Mississippi River Bridge that will replace the current bridge. Now being planned for the week of June 24 due to the current high river stages and wet conditions impacting the construction area, intermittent closures of up to two hours will happen on the existing bridge between the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in an effort to reduce vibration from construction activity and traffic on the existing bridge, limiting the chance of damage occurring to that bridge.

Besides this recent delay due to high water and wet weather, work on the new bridge construction project has continued to move forward as expected. For more information on the construction of the new Mississippi River Bridge at Lansing, go to the website link at iowadot.gov/lansingbridge to sign up to receive updates directly to an email inbox or check out the bridge project’s Facebook page for additional updates as well at www.facebook.com/LansingBridge/.