Articles Tagged: Mississippi River

Retailers and commuters cope while the Black Hawk Bridge over the Mississippi River is temporary closed.

This season, the last of the ice that typically persists on the upper Mississippi River through the start of spring had melted and was floating downstream at the end of February. Many described the winter conditions as something they’d never experienced before. But as climate change continues to progress, it could become familiar.

Mayors from 10 states along the Mississippi River flew to Washington, D.C. earlier this month to lobby for funding to protect and restore one of the world’s most important working rivers.

Starting Monday, a free water taxi will cross the river there at certain times of the day for seven days a week until the bridge is repaired and reopened to traffic, the Iowa Department of Transportation announced Friday.

The Iowa Department of Transportation said Friday that as part of the repair work, sections of the bridge decking will be removed — closing the bridge to pedestrians as well as vehicles.

State closes Black Hawk Bridge, West Liberty stagecoach inn transported to new home

Advocates argue that the river is long overdue to have its own such program. Millions of Americans rely on it for drinking water, commerce and recreation, and its floodplains provide food and habitat for hundreds of fish and wildlife species. But it's facing a multitude of challenges, from extreme weather to habitat loss to persistent agricultural and industrial pollution.

A new report released Tuesday from the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association found that although water quality has generally improved in the upper river in past decades, new threats, such as road salt and lead, are emerging.

Get on a boat on the upper Mississippi River, and you'll eventually come upon a looming concrete structure stretching across the river's main channel. Locks and dams are a distinct feature of the upper river. But what are they for? And who controls them?

The Mississippi River drains more than 40 percent of the continental U.S. – just how much trash does it take along with it?

Four Mississippi River mayors spent time earlier this month in Dubai at the United Nations’ annual climate change conference, where they shared a slate of new initiatives, including natural infrastructure projects to reduce disaster risks and piloting a new regional insurance system to support Mississippi River towns.

Historic low flows turned the Mississippi River into a construction area in 2023, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged huge quantities of sand to keep the channel open for barge traffic. Massive machines like the Dredge Goetz, a 225-foot-long vessel with a suction pipe nearly two feet wide, were moving through the river constantly to keep it clear.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service selected two Iowa projects for the funds, which stem from the Inflation Reduction Act

The Mississippi River is one of the world's great rivers, but it seems to carry less reverence than other iconic water bodies across the country, an attitude with serious consequences. River advocates are finding their own ways to help people connect.

Gazette reporters contributed to “When it Rains,” a series of news stories about increased rainfall in the Mississippi River Basin that won the 2023 Covering Climate Now Journalism Award for writing - short form.