Mississippi River Bridge Crisis

By Clayton Burke and Travis Konda, Contributing Authors 

In early 2024, when the Black Hawk Bridge, which connects Lansing, Iowa and Crawford County, Wis. over the Mississippi River, shifted unexpectedly, each state’s department of transportation mobilized to achieve operational continuity and build public trust.

Understanding the response of the respective project teams can help other leaders maintain infrastructure resilience in uncertain times.

As guardians of critical infrastructure, DOTs will experience emergencies. The speed at which they respond depends on how quickly they can assimilate relevant information, decide on actions and mobilize people and resources to develop and execute a pragmatic plan.

Effective crisis management hinges on agile executive decision-making that prioritizes safety, clear communications and rapid recovery. By following crisis management best practices, DOT leaders can be prepared to swiftly and effectively take appropriate steps in an infrastructure emergency.

The Black Hawk Bridge is a 93-year-old structure that carries Iowa Highway 9/Wisconsin Highway 82 across the Mississippi River. On Feb. 25, 2024, a few months after construction began on a new, directly adjacent replacement span, two of the existing bridge’s piers moved, causing the structure to shift.

Iowa and Wisconsin DOT officials moved quickly, closing the bridge and then assessing whether to repair and reopen or leave it closed until the new bridge opened in late 2026.

Through that disruption, DOT leaders and project team members exemplified agility in responding to the crisis.

The interdependent series of crucial considerations and best practices below provided a foundation for decision-making and created a model that informs transportation agencies’ response to infrastructure emergencies.

Public Safety Remains the Priority: Execute all necessary steps, including closures, to ensure public safety while crisis response decision-making is underway. In this case, Iowa DOT officials closed the structure immediately upon learning of the problem, communicating to the public that traveler safety was paramount.

Get a Big-Picture View: An expansive perspective on the crisis, vital for enabling DOTs and project teams to understand the issues, emerges from amassing the relevant information that exists across project and agency networks.

While data will be limited at the start of a fast-unfolding crisis, agency leaders can reliably make decisions based on the information, resources and stakeholder priorities that are known or obtainable.

Consider the Longer-Term Public Impact: An infrastructure crises creates significant disruptions – and risks – for the traveling public. Listening to the communities the project serves clarifies potential impacts. This may include increased financial, mobility and time burdens and reduced access to jobs, emergency services, healthcare, education and social connections. This crucial step informs short and longer-term responses.

For Lansing and Crawford County residents and visitors, the Mississippi River Bridge closure meant a 60-mile drive to cross the river at the next-closest bridge. Recognizing the communities’ mobility needs led Iowa DOT to arrange a free water taxi that ferried people back and forth across the river seven days a week until the bridge reopened.

Gaining a solid understanding of Iowa DOT’s commitment to reopen the bridge and the steps required to do so also confirmed the feasibility of higher-level WisDOT decisions, including adding bus service from a parking area to the temporary ferry.

Assemble a Partnership: Project experts – designers, consultants, contractors, inspectors, stakeholders like the Federal Highway Administration and others – can contribute insights into the technical aspects of an emergency response, as well as providing clarity about the capabilities and the resources they can supply.

The right mix of people will help DOT leaders assess the crisis, engage key stakeholders, find financial and expert resources and move forward with confidence. The most effective contributors will have technical experience and flexibility that affords resilience in crisis.

If, for example, the project owner chooses a different direction than the one recommended, these individuals will quickly rebound to aid in carrying out the selected plan.

Establish rules of engagement that define how the team will work together to manage the crisis on time and on budget. For example, limiting major decisions to a small project leadership group and then disseminating information to the rest of the team streamlines decision making and avoids large-committee paralysis. The contractor, Kraemer North America, was integral to this process.

Assigning experts to oversee essential project components, including structural systems, materials, costs, contracting and inspections, divides the labor, allowing those who have specific roles to handle the load without being overextended.

Locate leaders on site, if possible, to facilitate faster, easier and clearer communication, and encourage face-to-face interaction.

Lean on strong working relationships. Leadership will benefit from having already-built effective processes and trusted, collaborative project teams.

The unified team and efficient processes that already existed on the Mississippi River Bridge project enabled cohesive and focused action under pressure. Without any obligation to do so, project leaders worked nights and weekends to develop and execute on solution-first actions.

Iowa DOT also had solid relationships with national bridge and federal funding experts, who met with DOT leaders, understood what was most important to them and added their opinions and experience to inform the crisis response.

Identify Cost and Funding Options: Responding to a transportation emergency includes balancing costs with the goal of getting infrastructure back online quickly. Rely on strong team relationships, engaging team members who have relevant project budgeting experience to assess the costs of alternatives being considered. In evaluating possible Mississippi River Bridge solutions, Kraemer North America contributed costs and timelines required to get materials and equipment delivered, validated proposed budgets and helped minimize costs by recommending materials that were already in its store yard.

Bearing in mind that the goal was to reopen the bridge swiftly, budgets for alternatives were constructed accurately but without ongoing refinements designed to shave off small dollar amounts.

Determine whether state or federal funding is available through disaster declaration. By working with the Iowa governor’s office to get an emergency disaster declaration for the project, Iowa DOT established access to federal funding that alleviated some project costs.

Decide on a Viable Preferred Alternative: Settling on a reasonable, achievable plan based on the most complete information available establishes a clear path forward without forfeiting valuable time. Use community feedback, cost information, experts’ input and existing processes like force accounts and communication protocols to remain focused and choose a direction.

The decision focuses all team members’ energies on the agreed-upon response. It also further clarifies roles, allowing people and organizations to step outside their traditional responsibilities as necessary to get the job done while still maintaining accountability.

“The tremendous knowledge and experience of everyone involved, including Kraemer North America, gave Iowa and Wisconsin DOT leaders confidence that the repair strategy the team recommended was the right and best methodology,” said Iowa DOT Chief Engineer Tony Gustafson. “It was an amazing accomplishment considering the scope of the issue.”

Communicate the Solution: Establish unified messaging that is delivered from one source, preferably through a single spokesperson. Designating one person to keep all internal partners in the loop and handle public/stakeholder communications ensures consistent messaging. Iowa DOT, for example, designated its on-site project manager as spokesperson. The project team communicated progress to the spokesperson through daily, routine interactions on site, and the spokesperson led briefings at the end of each day for Iowa and Wisconsin DOT staff to report on the day’s progress.

Iowa DOT’s internal communications experts also collaborated with the spokesperson and shared talking points for every interview with internal DOT staff to ensure unified ongoing messaging.

In the Mississippi River Bridge situation, Iowa DOT posted updates on the project’s Facebook page and continued public meetings it was already holding monthly at the local library.

While consistent overall messaging is important, elected officials, residents and other audiences may each need additional, tailored information delivered with varying frequency. Leadership must understand when and how to customize messages to key stakeholders to communicate effectively throughout the crisis.

Execute the Solution: Ensure daily action steps are clear by adhering to processes like regular meetings between agency representatives, consultants, the designer and contractor. Daily project leader presence in the field is necessary, as well, to anticipate next steps and facilitate resolution of challenges that arise.

Solve problems at the lowest levels. As long as the professionals in the field are knowledgeable and trust exists between the agency, consultant and contractor, empowering field personnel to solve small problems permits rapid forward progress.

Trust is further heightened when leaders are confident these professionals will elevate a decision that is outside their capabilities. Documenting the decisions through correspondence is also important to keeping the team focused, moving forward toward the goal and maintaining accountability.

Create a Communication Loop Around Execution: Establish a project team member who makes sure people know what is going on in the field, questions are being addressed or elevated and inspections and other services are conducted.

Iowa DOT’s communications coordinator used information gleaned from daily internal briefings to create regular Facebook posts. The rhythm of these ongoing communications, along with community connections built through the monthly library meetings, created trust and assurance among constituents that they were being kept in the loop with accurate, reliable information.

Even when there’s not much new information to convey, regular communications keep the public engaged and aware that work is progressing, mitigating information gaps that lead to speculation.

Transportation executives will inevitably face structural failures, extreme weather events and other crises. Fostering cross-agency collaboration and leaning on strong teams will enable agile decision-making and effective execution that ensures operational continuity and public trust when transportation networks are at their most vulnerable. RB

Clayton Burke is the IA 9/WI 82 Mississippi River Bridge project manager at the Iowa Department of Transportation. Travis Konda is a construction engineering and inspection project manager at HNTB.

Lansing, Iowa, is a remote town on the banks of the Mississippi River. The river and the bridge are critical to Lansing and surrounding communities. On Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024, motorists crossing the bridge noticed an out-of-plane movement in the span’s guardrail. Iowa DOT closed the bridge, alerted a team consisting of Kraemer North America, consultants and engineers, which was building a new adjacent, replacement bridge, and then advised the public that the structure would be thoroughly assessed on Monday. The inspection confirmed that two piers had shifted. Leaders from the Iowa DOT and Wisconsin DOT rose to the occiason.

On Feb. 27, the Iowa DOT approved the proposed plan and announced that the bridge would reopen. On March 1, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for the bridge, activating the Federal Highway Administration Emergency Repair Program, which authorized emergency funding for the repair.

Throughout the crisis response, Iowa DOT followed the crisis management plan laid out above, maintaining continual communications with the public and other stakeholders. The repair plan was executed and the bridge reopened ahead of schedule on April 20.