Black Hawk Bridge

Black Hawk Bridge
File:View mt hosmer.jpg
Coordinates
Carries	2 lanes of IA 9 and WI 82
Crosses	Upper Mississippi River
Locale	Lansing, Iowa and Crawford County, Wisconsin, River Mile 663.4
Other name(s)	Lansing Bridge
Maintained by	Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation
ID number	NBI 000000000013520
Characteristics
Design	Cantilever through truss
Total length	1,653 feet (504 m)
Width	21 feet (6 m), 2 Lanes
Longest span	200 m
Clearance below	68 feet (21 m)
History
Opened	June 17, 1931
Statistics
Daily traffic	2,357 (2003)
Toll	None

The Black Hawk Bridge spans the Mississippi River, joining the town of Lansing, in Allamakee County, Iowa, to rural Crawford County, Wisconsin. It is the northernmost Mississippi River bridge in Iowa.

Named for Chief Black Hawk, it is popularly referred to as the "Lansing bridge". It carries Iowa Highway 9 and Wisconsin Highway 82.

This riveted cantilever through truss bridge has one of the more unusual designs of any Mississippi River bridge. Construction started in 1929 and was completed in 1931. The designer and chief engineer was Melvin B. Stone. The McClintic-Marshall Company of Chicago erected the trusses. The steel came from the Inland Steel Company.

The Wisconsin approach has a long causeway over Winneshiek bottoms (sloughs, ponds, and backwaters) before ramping up to the bridge itself. The main shipping channel is on the Iowa side. The Iowa approach is rather abrupt, going from a 25 mph city street straight up a steep ramp onto the bridge.

Originally a privately built and operated bridge owned by the Iowa-Wisconsin Bridge Company, it was closed between 1945 and 1957, due to damage from ice damming, and lacking funds to repair the bridge, the company went out of business. The two states acquired the bridge and repaired it.

In August 2011 the bridge was once again closed for repairs.

The bridge has a sufficiency rating of 39.9%, which mainly reflects its obsolete nature.

Closure

During an inspection on August 17, 2011, a crack was found in a floor beam under the bridge deck and the bridge was closed. The bridge was reopened on August 23, 2011.

• Images
• Blackhawk Bridge 02.jpg

  The Black Hawk Bridge at dusk, looking northeast.

• 

  Aerial view looking north, January 14, 2001, with River at floodstage. (USGS, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center)

• Black Hawk Bridge Lansing 1995.jpg

  View from northwest, showing Wisconsin shore, with a barge crossing underneath (Library of Congress/HAER)

See also

• List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River

References

• Iowa Department of Transportation, retrieved July 28, 2007
• Black Hawk Bridge Superb site, with pictures and statistics, retrieved July 28, 2007
• NationalBridges.com, retrieved August 7, 2007
• Black Hawk Bridge at Structurae. Retrieved on July 28, 2007.
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. IA-43, "Black Hawk Bridge, Spanning Mississippi River at State Highway 9, Lansing, Allamakee County, IA", 13 photos, 1 color transparency, 11 data pages, 1 photo caption page