Dubuque bridge over Mississippi to cost more than expected

The expansion of the Mississippi River bridge that connects Dubuque and East Dubuque is going to cost a lot more than the original estimate. In November, officials said it’d cost about 100-million to add two lanes onto the bridge. The latest estimate is 165 million. Kathie Cutler of the D-O-T’s office in Manchester says the first estimate wasn’t expected to be on the mark, it was just a planning number. Cutler says a design consultant came up with the 165-million dollar figure after looking at similar projects in the Midwest. Cutler says although they weren’t very happy with the number, they weren’t really surprised by it. Cutler says Illinois and Iowa officials, as well as Dubuque area officials, will now have to make a pitch for more federal money for the project. The feds have already set aside 28-million dollars, and Iowa and Illinois have matched that. Officials say about 20,000 cars per day cross the existing two-lane Julian Dubuque Bridge.