Crossing the Mississippi River Without the Lansing Bridge

Frederica Freyberg:
In other news, imagine you’re running late for work, but you have to take a water taxi or ferry over the river instead of driving over a bridge. That’s what will confront people in western Wisconsin when the bridge over the Mississippi River that connects De Soto to Lansing, Iowa, is removed this fall and replaced in 2027. As Erica Ayisi reports, the Lansing Bridge, also named the Black Hawk Bridge in Crawford County, has been under repair while still in use, but soon it will close altogether for replacement.

Erica Ayisi:
Closure, demolition and rebuilding are the new plans for the Black Hawk Bridge.

Timothy Gillespie:
The initial plan for the new bridge was that the old Black Hawk Bridge would remain open until the new bridge was completed.

Erica Ayisi:
But that Erica Ayisi plan has changed. The Village of De Soto President Timothy Gillespie says the announcement of the upcoming bridge demolition has residents worried about crossing the Mississippi River into Lansing, Iowa.

Timothy Gillespie:
Unfortunately, the Black Hawk Bridge will have to be closed in October, and so it’ll be about two years before the new bridge is ready.

Erica Ayisi:
The new bridge is being constructed along the existing bridge. According to the Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation, the east side of the existing bridge is posing a risk to the new bridge’s completion.

Timothy Gillespie:
And they said it’s becoming a safety issue. And they have to continue to drive the pilings down. And so it’s going to weaken, they think, the existing bridge and that’ll become a safety issue, a hazard.

Erica Ayisi:
The livelihood of local businesses on both sides of the river are at stake.

Timothy Gillespie:
There’s just going to have a very negative effect on a lot of businesses, not only in De Soto, but certainly in Lansing, Ferryville, Genoa, Harpers Ferry, New Albin, Iowa. All of those communities are going to be affected by this.

Erica Ayisi:
The bridge has been closed temporarily, briefly in the past. How were passengers impacted during those times?

Timothy Gillespie:
Well, they had a people ferry that they started and that was working pretty well. It, you know, it’s still pretty difficult for people to use a people ferry to, to get to work.

Erica Ayisi:
A people ferry and car ferry like this one could help business owners like Owen Buckmaster sustain his Lansing restaurant with Wisconsin customers.

Owen Buckmaster:
Just give them the option and more people would want to be involved and indulge in that car ferry, as opposed to just shuttling, busing and getting trucked across the river.

Erica Ayisi:
Transportation officials are exploring a car ferry service, but Gillespie says it will not meet the daily demand of cars crossing the bridge.

Timothy Gillespie:
They are only going to be able to bring 12, 14 cars at a time over, and that’s certainly not going to take the place of the traffic that was on the Black Hawk Bridge.

Erica Ayisi:
Justin Shepard of Shep’s Riverside Bar and Grill says customers need multiple crossing plans for businesses to stay afloat, especially through winter.

Justin Shepard:
As far as business goes, you know, they’ll run a shuttle hopefully until the ice comes through and then after the ice is in, you know, we don’t really know how that’s going to work because they don’t have a plan in place for that either.

Erica Ayisi:
Or a drive. The next closest bridge is U.S. Highway 18, connecting McGregor, Iowa, to Prairie du Chien, about 45 minutes away from the Lansing/De Soto bridge crossing.

Timothy Gillespie:
And there’s also a medical clinic over in Lansing. And so if we can’t get over there, then the people are going to have to go to Prairie du Chien or La Crosse, which is 30 miles in either direction.

Erica Ayisi:
Motorists will have to wait till 2027 to hear if the new bridge’s signature singing sound, wider width and indigenous name reference to Chief Black Hawk will remain the same. As Gillespie and other area village presidents seek government aid.

Timothy Gillespie:
Going to be looking for some kind of a federal or state aid to help support the loss of revenue that’s going to occur. So hopefully we can get some, some assistance.

Erica Ayisi
Reporting from De Soto, I’m Erica Ayisi for “Here & Now.”