Two recent ribbon-cutting ceremonies celebrated the completion of new highway bridges across the Mississippi River; the new $165 million Iowa 9/WIS 82 Mississippi River Bridge at Lansing, IA, and the new twin I-270 Chain of Rocks bridges spanning the Mississippi in Madison County, IL.
[Above photo by Illinois DOT]
On November 9, the Illinois Department of Transportation and Missouri Department of Transportation celebrated the completion of the $496.2 million I-270 Chain of Rocks twin bridges project; the centerpiece of a combined $531.6 million investment to improve safety and mobility while creating jobs and economic opportunity along a critical freight and travel corridor.
Illinois DOT oversaw construction of those bridges, with cost shared between Illinois and Missouri. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) led the groundbreaking for the new bridges in 2023, with the eastbound span opening in late 2024.
A companion $35.4 million MoDOT project is reconstructing the Riverview Drive interchange just west of the bridge.
Full completion of the new bridges – which will initially carry two lanes in each direction over the Mississippi – will occur in 2027, Illinois DOT said.
Final tasks include median work, guardrail installation, and painting of girders and beams; after that, Illinois DOT said the new bridge will open to three lanes in each direction.
“The I-270 bridges project is another transformational project that is preparing an entire region for long-term economic success,” said Gia Biagi, secretary of the Illinois DOT, in a statement. “We are especially proud to deliver this project with our partners in Missouri. Working together, we have positioned our two states as a freight hub that can support and create good-paying jobs well into the future.”
“The completion of this major river crossing is just the latest example of MoDOT and Illinois DOT teams working together to deliver solutions to the motorists and citizens of the St. Louis region,” added Ed Hassinger, MoDOT director. “This bridge will carry in excess of 50,000 vehicles a day between Missouri and Illinois and it will be critical to the efficient movement of people and goods for decades to come.”
Meanwhile, on November 6, the Iowa Department of Transportation and Wisconsin Department of Transportation hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for new Iowa 9/WIS 82 Mississippi River Bridge.
The Iowa DOT noted in a statement that the new structure features wider traffic lanes and shoulders; is expected to carry about 2,500 vehicles daily; and features an expanded navigation channel for commercial barges plying the Mississippi River.
Although the new bridge is open to traffic, the agency said additional work is required to finish the project, including restoration of car ferry landing areas and removal of the prior bridge piers and foundations.
Iowa DOT added that, in the spring of 2027, additional work on the bridge deck will require traffic disruptions but should not require full closures.
The entire project is expected to be completed in late spring 2027, the agency said.
During construction, Iowa DOT and Wisconsin DOT provided funding for a car-ferry service that carried more than 160,000 vehicles over the past year. Motorists who could not or chose not to use the car ferry used a detour route through Marquette, IA, and Prairie du Chien, WI, about 30 miles south of the crossing at Lansing.
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