Eagle Point Bridge

{{Infobox Bridge

|bridge_name= Eagle Point Bridge

|image= IAWIBdg.jpg

|image_size=300px

|caption= The former Eagle Point Bridge

|official_name=

|also_known_as=

|carries= 2 lanes of {{jct|country=USA|US 1961|61|US 1961|151}}

|crosses= Mississippi River

|locale= Dubuque, Iowa, and Grant County, Wisconsin

|maint= State of Iowa

|id=

|design= Truss bridge

|mainspan=

|length=

|width=

|clearance=

|below=

|traffic=

|open= 1902

|closed= 1983

|toll=

|map_cue=

|map_image=

|map_text=

|map_width=

|coordinates={{coord|42.537|N|90.644|W|format=dms|region:US-IA_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

|lat=

|long=

}}

The Eagle Point Bridge was a very narrow two-lane automobile bridge that connected urban Dubuque, Iowa, and rural Grant County, Wisconsin.{{Cite web |title=Eagle Point Bridge |url=http://www.johnweeks.com/river_mississippi/pagesA/umissA12.html |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=John Weeks Website}} 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,{{Cite web |title=Eagle Point Bridge |url=https://bridgehunter.com/ia/dubuque/eagle-point |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=Bridgehunter.com}} collected on the Iowa side.

The bridge was located about {{Convert|900|ft}} south of Lock and Dam No. 11, at the northern edge of Rhomberg Avenue in Dubuque, and connected to Eagle Point Road on the opposite side of the river. It was about {{convert|1|mi|spell=in}} 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.{{Cite web

| author = Dennett, Muessig & Associates, Ltd.

| date = 1982

| title = Eagle Point Bridge

| url = https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/ia/ia0100/ia0114/data/ia0114data.pdf

| work = Historic American Engineering Record

| publisher = Library of Congress

| location = Washington, D.C.

| page = 25

| access-date = 2018-10-19

}}

The bridge was still structurally sound after the new bridge was built, leading some to ask the bridge be kept open as a pedestrian or special use bridge, but the state of Iowa still tore the bridge down.{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=EAGLE_POINT_BRIDGE |title=Eagle Point Bridge |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Dubuque}}

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.{{Cite web |title=TOLLBRIDGE INN (THE) - Encyclopedia Dubuque |url=https://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php/TOLLBRIDGE_INN_(THE)#:~:text=The%20Tollbridge%20Inn%20was%20a,from%20the%20city%20for%20$14,000. |access-date=2022-10-26 |website=www.encyclopediadubuque.org}}

The bridge was extensively documented in 1982 for the Historic American Engineering Record, archived at the Library of Congress. The documentation includes 81 black-and-white photos and 39 data pages detailing construction and history of the bridge.

{{Gallery

|title=Eagle Point Bridge

|File:EaglePointParkStairwayAndBridgeDubuqueCirca1912.tif

|alt1=Postcard of Eagle Point Park Stairway and Bridge, Circa 1912

|Postcard titled "Eagle Point Park Stairway And Bridge Dubuque" with May 21, 1912 postmark on reverse.

|File:Grant11171940 11A-73 7x9 crop Lock and Dam 11 with Eagle Point Bridge.jpg

|alt2=Aerial view of a lock and dam

|An aerial view of Lock and Dam 11 with the Eagle Point Bridge, November 1940

}}