Crews sink piers for the Dubuque-Wisconsin bridge in 1979. A year earlier, transportation officials and community leaders grappled with where to place the span. Iowa officials suggested linking the bridge to 14th Street, prompting local concerns that traffic would overload Loras Boulevard.
Crews sink piers for the Dubuque-Wisconsin bridge in 1979. A year earlier, transportation officials and community leaders grappled with where to place the span. Iowa officials suggested linking the bridge to 14th Street, prompting local concerns that traffic would overload Loras Boulevard.
Dubuquers discussed the location of a planned Mississippi River span 45 years ago.
Transportation officials and community leaders grappled with where to place the bridge linking Dubuque and Wisconsin during a hearing in March 1978.
Iowa officials suggested linking the steel bowstring arch span directly to 14th Street, prompting local concerns that traffic would overload Loras Boulevard.
The four-lane freeway bridge eventually replaced the Eagle Point Bridge when it opened in August 1982. An elevated highway portion of U.S. 61/151 was constructed to send traffic out of Dubuque and into southwest Wisconsin over the 2,951-foot bridge.
Here is how the Telegraph Herald reported on bridge developments in its March 3, 1978, edition.
DUBUQUE-WISCONSIN LINK GOES TO FINAL HEARING
Recommended for you
A public hearing on whether to build the proposed new Mississippi River bridge over City Island between Dubuque and Wisconsin will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, at the Audubon School gymnasium, 605 Lincoln Ave. in Dubuque.
Most recent public debate on the specific bridge issue has centered on the design of the bridge approach on the Dubuque side. Some feel the Iowa Department of Transportation’s proposal to link the bridge directly to 14th Street will overload the traffic capacity of Loras Boulevard, and Dubuque city officials said as late as Friday they were uncertain how they preferred the approach to be designed.
The Dubuque City Council also is expecting to wrestle with the issue at its meeting at 7 p.m. tomorrow.
The new bridge is designed to connect with another segment of the Dubuque metropolitan area’s official long-range transportation plan, a Dubuque freeway. The bridge has environmental clearance from federal and state government, but the freeway does not and probably will not for another year. Environmental approval of the freeway is not guaranteed.
The hearing Wednesday is only on the bridge, but Iowa highway officials said last week that comments on other segments of the transportation plan would be appropriate Wednesday night.
Almost all of the necessary right-of-way for the bridge and its temporary approach on the Dubuque side is already government-owned. On the Wisconsin side, however, most if not all the necessary right-of-way (about 120 acres) is privately owned. The proposed interchange on the Wisconsin side would be located on property owned by Lavern Digman, whose family has farmed in the vicinity all its life. The bridge approach roads would trisect the Digmans’ dairy-and-hog farm, rendering it inoperable, according to Dave Digman, Lavern’s son.
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"made-in-the-tristates", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"ask-amy", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"ask-the-th", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"biz-buzz", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"love-that-lasts", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"athlete-of-the-week", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"stained-glass", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"pmd", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"venues", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"dbq-election", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"presidential-election", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"2019-election-results", html:'
'};
myKeywordList.push(item);
var item = {keyword:"asbury-iowa", html:'