LACRESCENT, Minn. – City officials are hopeful of state Transportation Department approval soon for the next phase of $3.5 million bicyclist route through Mississippi River sloughs to the main interstate bridge to LaCrosse. Mayor Mike Poellinger said the pandemic had slowed the approval process. The issue for MnDOT is a bridge over the existing and complex First Street intersection on Highways 14 and 16, as well as over the Canadian Pacific railroad’s line to Iowa. Architects have completed the bridge design, he said. Pending MnDot approval, bids may go out in the fall., the mayor said. Poellinger said the bridge would be not only a recreational link to LaCrosse but to LaCrescent’s poorly developed Shore Acres area down in the backwaters. Shore Acres is now cut off from the rest of LaCrescent, which is on higher ground, by the railroad and Highway16.
