Center span of new Mississippi River Bridge at Lansing installed during day-long operation to complete new connection milestone
Standard photo by Julie Berg-Raymond. Additional photos are available with the full version of this article in the Wednesday, June 17, 2026 edition of the Standard.
Nearly six months after the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing was demolished in mid-December of 2025 - and having to wait yet another day from its original schedule due to rainy weather, the new bridge being constructed across the Mississippi River at Lansing reached a new connection milestone in a day-long operation Friday, June 12. The center span of the bridge that had been constructed near the Lansing Marina during the past couple months was floated down the river and then lifted into place to be connected to the east and west spans of the new bridge.
Once the center span was floated into place, a strand jack system operating from the existing bridge deck of the east and west spans lifted the 850-ton center span into place for connection to the east and west spans. In all, the process of navigating the center span down the river and lifting it up to its final home connection proved to be an all-day event, starting shortly after sunrise and the span being able to freely stay in place as the sun began to sink behind the adjacent bluffs. Crews continued to work on completing the final connections throughout the following weekend, and finishing work will continue in placing the final connecting beams at the top of the bridge’s truss system.
Although the finished product is certainly a welcome sight for those awaiting a tangible connection once more across the Mighty Mississippi, Friday’s connection process did experience a couple minor issues that slowed progress a bit at certain points of the process. Equipment issues first stalled the process once the center span was floated into place, leaving it there for longer than originally planned before its lifting into place could begin. Also, as the center span was lifted toward its final placement, final details within certain areas of the bolting system needed to be remedied before the span could be fully lifted into place, leaving the center span just a couple feet from its final destination for longer than planned as well.
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