WINONA, Minn. — The Interstate bridges at Winona await the season’s first barge array headed upstream. Ice is mostly clear on the main channel locally, but the shipping season doesn’t begin until steel barges can penetrate ice remaining on Lake Pepin, 35 miles north. Last year the first barges were pushed through the Pepin ice on March 19 by the Motor Vessel McWhorter and its 6,120 horsepower engines and twin screws. Pepin is considered safely navigable when ice is down to 12 inches. Last week the thickness was 27 in places.
Side by side and waiting. The twin Highway 43 bridges connecting Winona and Wisconsin are landmark portals for barge traffic headed to the head of Mississippi River navigation at St. Paul. Image: Steve Lunde