A bridge to confusion
Construction on the U.S. Highway 18 bridge shifted to the Iowa side early last week. The move limits access on and off the bridge in the busy Marquette intersection which, paired with inattentive drivers and a Wisconsin Highway 82 detour through the community due to construction on the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing, has resulted in confusion and long waits.
Bridge construction, detour and inattentive drivers lead to issues
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
Construction on the U.S. Highway 18 bridge shifted to the Iowa side early last week. The move limits access on and off the bridge in the busy Marquette intersection which, paired with inattentive drivers and a Wisconsin Highway 82 detour through the community due to construction on the Black Hawk Bridge at Lansing, has resulted in confusion and long waits.
Issues started June 8, when both the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (which is handling the Marquette-Joliet Bridge project) and Iowa Department of Transportation (which is handling the Black Hawk Bridge project) began placing signage and barriers redirecting traffic flow on and off the bridge and through Marquette—some of which contradicted one another.
“I think they had quite the controversy on what they were going to close and how they were going to do it between the two states,” said Marquette Mayor Steve Weipert at the city’s June 9 council meeting.
“They were supposed to work together on the detour and they did not,” added Marquette City Clerk Bonnie Basemann.
Mar-Mac Police Chief Robert Millin immediately contacted the agencies to resolve the conflicting signs and listed directions on the department’s Facebook page to help motorists more easily navigate the area.
If drivers are going to Wisconsin from Marquette/McGregor, utilize the on/off ramp south of the bridge (next to the Frontier Motel). This is now a right turn only. A traffic signal is placed in the eastbound lane nearby, at the start of the bridge, so beware that drivers will have to merge with traffic waiting on U.S. Highway 18. Drivers can also enter U.S. Highway 18 via the Pleasant Ridge Road/B45 intersection. Motorists cannot turn left onto the bridge from Marquette Drive, located between the Depot Museum and Central State Bank.
If drivers want to travel west on U.S. Highway 18 from Marquette, turn right onto the highway from Marquette Drive or Pleasant Ridge Road/B45.
If drivers are coming from Wisconsin, they cannot turn left into Marquette. Drivers must take Marquette Drive (the first right off the bridge), or travel a bit further and turn right onto Pleasant Ridge Road/B45, then take Edgar Street into Marquette.
Semis are prohibited from entering Marquette this way—a development the city of Marquette pushed for after the downtown business district, which has two 90-degree turns to negotiate, was inundated with large truck traffic June 8 and 9.
“The grain trucks from Wisconsin are not following the bypass. They don’t want to run up to McGregor and take Business 76 and 18, and are just coming right down through,” said Marquette Public Works Director Jason Sullivan. “We were flushing hydrants and a whole bunch of them went by. They’re hopping over curbs.”
He was worried the trucks would take out light poles, fire hydrants or vehicles.
“I was going to put no parking on Second Street. As soon as someone parks there, it’ll be too narrow, and there will be two semis crashing,” Sullivan stated.
“It’s also going to tear up our road,” added Marquette Councilwoman Cindy Halvorson. “And there’s a lot of traffic on the weekends now, with people walking around.”
A concrete barrier with a “no semi” sign has since been placed at the Marquette Drive entrance. Any semi driver found operating on Marquette Drive may be cited.
Drivers heading east on U.S. Highway 18, who want to enter Marquette, can turn left onto Pleasant Ridge Road/B45 and take Edgar Street into the community or turn right onto the on/off ramp.
These changes are hard enough for locals to negotiate on a good day. Now throw in increased traffic from the detour and tourists.
Although back-ups have occurred at the traffic signals on both the Wisconsin and Iowa sides of the bridge since construction closed a portion of one lane in March, Saturday was one of the worst yet. Vehicles in Iowa waited to cross from as far back as Gencor and the Driftless Area Wetlands Centre. The bridge approach was also consistently packed, and the line snaked through Marquette toward McGregor.
The Mar-Mac Police directed traffic at the bridge entrance for four hours that afternoon before it was back to “normal.” According to the police, the delays were “caused by people running the red light and not paying attention.”
Both lights, the police said, had each been programmed for three minutes. Running the red light causes the system to go out of synchronization, meaning it shuts down to all red and resets.
“If a vehicle isn’t paying attention and there is a significant gap in between vehicles, the program thinks all traffic has gone through and sends a signal to the other light to begin the process to turn green,” the department explained.
Saturday afternoon, the Iowa side traffic lights were adjusted from three to four minutes, and, eventually, to five minutes. After the Iowa side “cleaned out,” the Wisconsin side began to congest. The light was reprogrammed to four minutes while keeping the Iowa light at five minutes.
Although construction on the Black Hawk Bridge is anticipated to wrap up by June 24 (removing detour traffic), work on the U.S. Highway 18 bridge won’t be completed until November. In order to keep the system running smoothly, the police have some advice for motorists: “Be patient, be attentive and stop running the red lights.”
