Mississippi River Ferry at Lansing to Begin Operation Monday (11.03)

A car ferry service will start Monday (11.03) to provide an alternative travel option following the closure of the existing Iowa 9 / WIS 82 Mississippi River bridge between Lansing, Iowa, and Crawford County, Wisconsin The existing bridge, also known as the Black Hawk Bridge, closed to traffic on October 20th, as construction on a new bridge continues nearby.

The Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation say the free, 12-vehicle ferry to cross the river will run 16 hours a day, seven days a week. The ferry will operate from a Wisconsin landing at the western end of WIS 82, adjacent to the bridge construction site, and cross to the Iowa landing at the Lansing Marina, north of the bridge. 

The first daily departures will start at 5:30 am from Wisconsin and 5:45 am from Iowa. The final daily departures will be at 9 pm from Wisconsin and 9:15 pm from Iowa.

That’s Pete Hjelmstad with the Mason City District office of the Iowa DOT, which notes that each one-way cycle is estimated to take about 15 minutes, including loading, travel, and unloading. Service may be temporarily paused for weather, river conditions, commercial traffic, crew changes, refueling, ferry maintenance, or site maintenance.

There is no cost to use the ferry, open to cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians, as well as two-axles trucks under 10 tons. Trailers, ATV/UTVs, or larger vehicles such as RVs, buses, or farm equipment are not allowed.

Iowa DOT, WisDOT, and the contractor determined that future construction stages on the new bridge pose a risk to the safety of the existing bridge, resulting in its closure. Crews have already begun dismantling the existing bridge in advance of a full demolition later this year.

In addition to the car ferry, there are marked highway detour routes in both states. The nearest highway bridge is approximately 30 miles south at U.S. 18 Highway connecting Marquette, Iowa, to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.

To support more efficient travel for daily commuters, the DOTs  kindly request that priority access to the car ferry be given to commuter traffic during peak hours: 5:30–7:30 a.m. and 3:30–5:30 p.m. Non-commuters are encouraged to consider traveling outside these windows when possible.

On Iowa DOT-observed holidays, the car ferry will operate on a revised schedule from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The first holiday to follow this schedule will be Veterans Day, Nov. 11, followed by the Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 27–28, and Christmas, Dec. 25. Please visit the website listed below for the full list of holidays following the revised schedule.

Full information on the ferry is available at https://iowadot.gov/lansingcarferry.