I'm Marisa Wojcik for "Here& Now".
>> 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 Erika 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.
>> Closure, demolition and rebuilding are the new plans
for the Black Hawk Bridge. >> The initial plan for the
new bridge was that the old Black Hawk Bridge would
remain open until the new bridge was completed.
>> But that 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. >> 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. >> 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.
>> 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.
>> The livelihood of local businesses on both sides of
the river are at stake. >> 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 Alvin, Iowa. All
of those communities are going to be affected by
this. >> The bridge has been
closed temporarily, briefly in the past. How were
passengers impacted during those times?
>> 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, to get to work. >> A people ferry and car
ferry like this one could help business owners like
Erwin Buckmaster sustain his Lansing restaurant with
Wisconsin customers. 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. >> Transportation officials
are exploring a car ferry service, but Gillespie says
it will not meet the daily demand of cars crossing the
bridge. able to bring 1214 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. >> Justin Shepherd of Shep's
Riverside Bar and Grill says customers need multiple
crossing plans for businesses to stay afloat,
especially through winter. >> 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 for in place for that
either. 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. >> 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. 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. >> 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.
>> Reporting from De Soto >> Reporting from De Soto