New Lansing Mississippi River Bridge Opening Set


A new Mississippi River bridge connecting Lansing, Iowa, and rural Crawford County, Wis., is scheduled to open to traffic November 6, several months ahead of its original completion schedule.

The Iowa Department of Transportation and Wisconsin Department of Transportation will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. November 6 in the middle of the Iowa 9/Wisconsin 82 bridge. A ceremonial first crossing will follow, with the bridge expected to open to regular traffic around 12:30 p.m.

The new bridge replaces the former Black Hawk Bridge, which was permanently closed in late 2025 and demolished in December. Construction on the replacement began in late 2023.

The project was originally scheduled for an opening in spring 2027. Project officials attributed the accelerated schedule to the concentrated efforts of the contracting team, along with favorable weather and river conditions.

The new bridge is more than 1,700 feet long and includes wider traffic lanes and 8-foot shoulders. The project also increases the Mississippi River navigation channel at the crossing from 650 feet to 750 feet, improving navigation for commercial traffic.

The previous bridge’s narrow deck and structural condition limited commercial traffic and affected freight movement in the region. The navigation channel also presented challenges for barge traffic.

Since November 2025, Iowa DOT and WisDOT have operated a free car ferry service to maintain a Mississippi River crossing while the bridge was under construction. The ferry carried an average of about 555 vehicles per day during summer 2026.

The ferry will operate through November 6 and will be discontinued once the new bridge opens. Motorists who have not used the ferry have relied on a marked detour using the U.S. 18 bridge between Marquette, Iowa, and Prairie du Chien, Wis., about 30 miles south of Lansing.

Although the bridge will open to traffic November 6, construction will continue outside the main traffic lanes. Remaining work includes restoration of the ferry landing areas and removal of the former bridge’s piers and foundations.

Additional work on the bridge deck is planned for spring 2027 and is expected to cause traffic disruptions but not full closures. The entire project is scheduled for completion in late spring 2027.