The Dubuque–Wisconsin Bridge is a steel Tied-arch automobile bridge connecting Dubuque, Iowa , with still largely rural Grant County, Wisconsin , over the Mississippi River . It is one of two automobile bridges in the Dubuque area, the other being the Julien Dubuque Bridge , which is located about three miles (4.8 km) south.
8-485: The bridge is a four lane, limited access bridge and is part of US Highway 61 / US Highway 151 (US 61/US 151). This bridge replaced the older Eagle Point Bridge that previously served as the connection between Dubuque and Wisconsin. In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, city officials became convinced that the Eagle Point Bridge was no longer adequate for the city's needs. They determined that
16-489: A four lane bridge would be needed for the increasing traffic that was anticipated. Several names for the bridge were considered for the new bridge. Included among the names suggested was one that honored the pioneer priest Samuel Charles Mazzuchelli . When the Dubuque–Wisconsin Bridge opened in 1981, it ended on an island in the river called City Island, formerly known as Ham's Island (as Mathias Ham once owned
24-632: A pedestrian or special use bridge, but the state of Iowa still tore the bridge down. Several years after the demolition of the bridge, a restaurant known as the Tollbridge Inn was constructed at what was the Iowa end of the bridge. The restaurant operated for a number of years, until it was torn down to make way for future development. The bridge was extensively documented in 1982 for the Historic American Engineering Record , archived at
32-657: The land). From City Island, a new bridge was constructed over the Peosta Channel of the Mississippi River , along an alignment that connected with East 16th Street. City Island has since been named Chaplain Schmitt Memorial Island in honor of Father Aloysius Schmitt , who was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In the late 1980s, a riverfront expressway for US 61 and US 151
40-567: The new bridge. The Eagle Point Bridge was demolished soon afterward. In the early 1990s, the approach to the bridge was rebuilt to accommodate the new four lane US 61/US 151 highway being built in Dubuque. During the rebuilding of the Julien Dubuque Bridge , traffic from US 20 was detoured on to this bridge. In 2003, the deck of the bridge was rebuilt and the bridge cleaned. Eagle Point Bridge The Eagle Point Bridge
48-407: The northern edge of Rhomberg Avenue in Dubuque, and connected to Eagle Point Road on the opposite side of the river. It was about one mile (1.6 km) north of the present bridge. In 1968, the highway designation was removed from the bridge and a four-ton load limit was put in place. The bridge was still structurally sound after the new bridge was built, leading some to ask the bridge be kept open as
56-604: Was a very narrow two-lane automobile bridge that connected urban Dubuque, Iowa , and rural Grant County, Wisconsin . It was part of the US 61 / US 151 route, and was a toll bridge. After the new Dubuque–Wisconsin Bridge was built in 1983, the Eagle Point Bridge was torn down. At the end, the toll was ten cents, both ways, collected on the Iowa side. The bridge was located about 900 feet (270 m) south of Lock and Dam No. 11 , at
64-481: Was funded. This nearly mile-long curving bridge was designed to fill in the gap between the Dubuque–Wisconsin Bridge and the new waterfront expressway. The bridge crosses the Peosta Channel of the Mississippi River, as well as a backwater pond. Despite crossing two bodies of water, only 5 of the 20 spans of the bridge are over water. Upon completion in 1983, traffic was shifted over from the Eagle Point Bridge to
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