Top Stories

Monday morning, November 3, the Cassville Car Ferry began transporting vehicles and people back and forth across the main channel of the Mississippi River at Lansing, allowing motorists to avoid the long detours to the north or south since the permanent closing of the Black Hawk Bridge Monday, October 20. Pictured above is the unloading of vehicles from the ferry at the landing on the Iowa side of the river, located at the Lansing City Marina.

The Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation (DOT) are partnering to offer a free car ferry across the Mississippi River during the closure of the Iowa 9/Wisconsin 82 bridge. This service connects Lansing with Wisconsin near De Soto and Ferryville while the new bridge is under construction.

According to DOT information available at iowadot.gov/lansingbridge, the ferry is expected to begin service in early November. The exact start date is anticipated to be announced by DOT officials in the near future.

The car ferry is expected to run seven days a week, starting each day at 5:30 a.m. from the Wisconsin landing area, with a first departure from the Iowa side expected to be at 5:45 a.m. The final trip of each will take place at 9 p.m. from the Wisconsin side, and at 9:15 p.m. from the Iowa side.

by Joe Moses

Current State Auditor and Iowa Gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand visited the Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center in Lansing Tuesday, October 21 as part of his 100 Town Hall Tour across Iowa. The Allamakee County stop October 21 in Lansing was one of five Town Hall Q&A sessions for Sand that day including Howard County, Chickasaw County, Bremer County and Allamakee County with the 100 Town Hall Tour concluding in Decorah in Winneshiek County.

Prior to the Town Hall at the Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center, in response to a question from The Standard relating to the closure of the Black Hawk Bridge in Lansing and the continued pursuit by local officials relating to disaster relief to provide assistance during the anticipated two-year period remaining for the bridge replacement, Sand noted his frustration about the closure, “I can’t understand how it came to this point. I mean, it’s irresponsible.”

Tuesday, November 4 is scheduled as the City/School Election to determine which candidates will be elected by voters to leadership positions at the most local levels of government and guidance. Out of the six communities and three school districts within Allamakee County, there will be a total of five contested races, according to candidate listings from the Allamakee County Auditor’s Office that were also printed, along with additional election information, on Page 24 of the October 15 edition of The Standard. Those candidates can also be found on sample ballots that are available online at https://allamakeecountyelections.iowa.gov/.

The Monday, October 20 permanent closure of the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing marks the end of the iconic structure’s service to those who crossed the Mississippi River between Lansing and Wisconsin Highway 35 over a period of 94 years. Although such a closure was not originally planned to take place until much closer to the anticipated Spring 2027 completion of the bridge currently being constructed to take over those crossing duties, safety concerns regarding construction activity for that new bridge impacting the structural integrity of the older bridge that was first opened for duty in 1931 forced the Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation to come to the decision that the Black Hawk Bridge would need to be closed and eventually dismantled and demolished, which will take place as the remainder of this calendar year 2025 unfolds.

After traveling a different route last year, The Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC) Holiday Train is scheduled to make its return to the Lansing and New Albin areas again this year as part of its 2025 trek to help raise money, food and awareness for local food banks in communities along the CPKC network. The festive railway celebration is scheduled to make its way through northeast Iowa Monday, November 24, traveling southward this year instead of northward as in year’s past and making Allamakee County stops in New Albin and Lansing that afternoon, before continuing south to Marquette, Guttenberg and Dubuque that same Monday.

The Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Transportation (DOT) announced Tuesday, October 7 that they will be permanently closing the Black Hawk Bridge between Lansing and Crawford County, WI Monday, October 20 at 7 a.m. in order to facilitate further construction of the new bridge spanning that same area, with that new bridge scheduled to open in spring of 2027. The October 20 closing date follows an initial announcement made July 14 of this year that the Black Hawk Bridge would have to be permanently closed much earlier than originally anticipated in the bridge project plans due to the driving of pile used to support the steel being utilized to build the new bridge causing movement and impacting the integrity and safety of the Black Hawk Bridge beyond allowable protocols.

The Allamakee County Sheriff’s Office reports that Tuesday, September 30 at 10:39 a.m., the Allamakee County Dispatch Center received a 911 call reporting that portions of a hillside involving heavy rocks had slid down into a house in the rural Harpers Ferry area and a male resident of the home was unable to be located.

Emergency personnel responded to the 1100 block of Red Oak Road north of Harpers Ferry in rural Allamakee County. Upon arrival, first responders located Michael Dan Stok, age 76, of Harpers Ferry inside the residence, and verified that he had been struck by a large rock as it crashed through the back wall of the home, causing fatal injuries and resulting in Stok being pronounced deceased at the scene.

Everyone is invited to join area youth on athletic fields across the nation this Wednesday evening, October 8 in sharing their Christian faith with other students and the general public for this year’s Fields of Faith event. The local event is now in its 14th year and will open to the public at 6:30 p.m., with the event scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Waukon High School football field that October 8 evening, or in the Waukon High School gym in the event of inclement weather.

Main Street Lansing, in conjunction with the Lansing Lions Club, the City of Lansing, the Light the Way Committee and other community organizations and businesses, is planning a Black Hawk Bridge Memorial Day Farewell Celebration scheduled for this Saturday, October 11, prior to the upcoming closure and demolition of the Black Hawk Bridge. A variety of community events are being planned throughout the day this Saturday, with that day culminating in a Memorial Party at T.J. Hunter’s throughout the afternoon and a Last Lighting of the Bridge Party at Shep’s Patio along the riverfront of the waters over which the Black Hawk Bridge has spanned for nearly a century.