The Black Hawk Bridge across the Mississippi River between Lansing, Iowa, and DeSoto, Wisconsin, will be reopening today. The bridge was closed last week after inspectors identified structural damage that needed emergency repairs.
Pete Hjelmstad of the Iowa Department of Transportation says the repairs to the bridge have gone smoothly. “We are going to be doing some other maintenance work on the bridge, so there will be a lane closure,” Helmstead says. “…But that work will be done under traffic, so the bridge will be open.”
According to the DOT, more than 2000 vehicles travel across the bridge each day. The nearest crossings of the Mississippi are at La Crescent, Minnesota and La Crosse, Wisconsin to the north or to the south at Marquette, Iowa and Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin.
The Black Hawk Bridge, which is the northernmost Mississippi River bridge in Iowa, was closed twice last year after it was hit by barges traveling on the Mississippi River.
(Reporting by Chris Berg, KCHA, Charles City)