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The meeting will be from 4 to 7 p.m. in Kerndt Brothers Savings Bank Community Center at 395 Main St. in Lansing. No formal presentation will be made, but Iowa DOT personnel and members of a local steering committee will be available to discuss the study.
"The purpose is to give information about the (feasibility study) project and what the study is and to get some input from people, to get their reaction to different options that will guide the study in the future," said Rod Larsen, district transportation planner for Iowa DOT District 2, based in Waterloo, Iowa. Sketches will show different options, he said Monday.
At least one or two more public meetings will be held before the study is finished, Larsen said.
The departments of transportation in Iowa and Wisconsin said in October they had started work on a two-year study on the bridge, which spans the main channel of the Mississippi River. At the time, the agencies said local officials had asked for a study on reconstruction or replacement of the 1,623-foot steel truss bridge, built in 1931.
The state transportation agencies are being assisted by a consulting team led by engineering firm CH2M Hill of Milwaukee.
When completed, the feasability study might recommend further study of some preferred alternatives, Larsen said. "I don't know that there will be just a single option in the end," he said.
No money has been set aside for construction of a new bridge. At this point, Larsen said, no cost estimates or timetables for improving the existing bridge or building a new one are available.
"Personally, I'd like to see a new (bridge), although people like the design of this (existing) one," said Lansing Mayor Ed Arnold, who is a member of the local steering committee. "New is always better, as far as I'm concerned."
Arnold added, "From what I hear from the (Iowa DOT specialists), this bridge is still in very good shape. But it is old. It is narrower than (Iowa DOT officials) would like.
"I don't look for them to do anything except the upkeep on the old bridge, for the foreseeable future," Arnold said. "This is just a preliminary study. It's something that has to be done before they can take any other steps."
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Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@lacrossetribune.com.
IF YOU GO
WHAT: The Iowa Department of Transportation will hold a public information meeting to discuss a two-year feasibility study under way on improving or replacing the Black Hawk Bridge over the Mississippi River at Lansing.
WHEN: From 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29
WHERE: At Kerndt Brothers Savings Bank Community Center at 395 Main St. in Lansing.
MORE INFO: For more information, call Rod Larsen of the Iowa DOT at (319) 235-1832.
