DriftlessMode

01/29/2026

BREAKING ICE, BREAKING DOWN OLD PIER - While Kraemer North America workboats break ice to keep it from forming and interfering with car ferry runs as well as work on the new bridge, other workers chip away at breaking down a pier that supported the old bridge.

01/29/2026

SIMILARITIES - View from the Iowa side of the Mississippi River at Lansing, Iowa. At left is the new bridge under construction. At right is part of what's left of the old Black Hawk Bridge.

01/28/2026

ICE BREAKING IN ZERO DEGREES - Workers in small tugs and a barge tow keep ice from forming around the new bridge construction site at Lansing, Iowa this morning. It's a necessary task for keeping a path for a car ferry to move between Iowa and Wisconsin shores on the Mississippi River. The river here reminded me of an ice cube tray in a refrigerator freezer trying to make cubes.

01/14/2026

FERRY RUNNING AGAIN - Wednesday, January 14th
Due to safety concerns because of the high winds ferry service was delayed this morning but recent word is it's running again.

01/09/2026

RUSH CREEK VALLEY 3 - The view of the Rush Creek Valley along Wisconsin bluffs across the Mississippi River from where we lived south of Lansing, Iowa for some 10 years was a constant muse. It was a convenient subject that changed with days, even hours, seasons, light and temporary boaters and fishermen. Here are three favorites stacked together.

12/24/2025

ALL THINGS MUST PASS - Just as George Harrison used that phrase to help music fans get past the breakup of the incredible and timeless Beatles and their music — everything in life, good or bad, is temporary and will eventually end — fans of the historic Black Hawk Bridge have been asked to remember and love that old bridge for all time but also accept the new bridge and all its good in coming decades. The photo shows a thin ice floe passing through a reflection of the old bridge in the Mississippi River a few years ago.

12/19/2025

AND THERE SHE BLOWS - At 11:11 a.m. plus a few seconds the region's beloved Black Hawk Bridge connecting Lansing, Iowa with Wisconsin was imploded down into the Mississippi River over which it stood for some 94 years. Onlookers and live streamers waited much of the morning for the historic event when, finally, strategic demolition points popped to form palm-tree-like puffs of smoke and most of the eastern 3/4 of the bridge fell down. ***For the record provided here in still images pulled from a live streamed video, thanks to Justin Shepard and Shep's Riverside bar and grill.

12/19/2025

***FYI-- The Iowa DOT's livestream and the TV station's streaming from Shep's seem to be a couple minutes out of sync.

12/15/2025

https://iowadot.gov/news/2025-12-15/iowa-9-wis-82-mississippi-river-bridge-demolition-moved-dec-19-safety-plans-announced

News release about the Iowa 9 / WIS 82 Mississippi River Bridge Demolition that was Moved to Dec. 19 with Safety Plans Announced.

12/15/2025

BRIDGE DEMO UPDATE! - Implosion of the Mississippi River Bridge at Lansing has been moved from December 18th to December 19th, with December 20th as a backup date, according to Pete Hjelmstad with the Iowa Department of Transportation. ***He will be posting the news release to Facebook around mid-afternoon, he said. --Driftlessmode archive photo

12/13/2025

THE OLD BRIDGE, SOME HISTORY - Originally posted here a few years ago, this tribute in photos and short texts tells the story of the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing, Iowa, as it lived from 1931-2025.

A photographic tribute to the historic recently closed (October 20, 2025) old Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing, Iowa, connecting the Hawkeye state with Wisconsin...