09/04/2026
We’ve all heard the good news by now but hear me out……
Hearing that the bridge is set to open back up in November brings with it a huge sigh of relief.
But if we’re being honest… there’s another feeling that comes with it too.
Uncertainty.
For nearly two years, businesses in Lansing have been digging their claws in and holding on with everything they have. They’ve weathered detours, lost traffic, lost customers, rising costs, uncertainty and months upon months of wondering how much longer they could keep fighting.
And they’ve fought.
We have adapted.
We have sacrificed. We have found ways to keep the doors open. We have held on when it would have been much easier to let go.
So yes—November is something to celebrate.
But Lansing isn’t simply going to open the bridge and suddenly go back to normal.
The reality is that over the last two years, people have had to change their routines. They’ve found new places to shop. New restaurants to eat at. New businesses to support. New routes to take. New habits and new priorities that simply became their normal.
And that’s the part that scares a lot of us.
When that bridge opens, we need to remember that the businesses that have been here all along aren’t starting from where they were before this happened.
They’re starting from behind.
For many of us, the goal isn’t even profit right now.
It’s getting back to baseline.
It’s rebuilding customer traffic. Rebuilding habits. Rebuilding momentum. Rebuilding what took years to create before a bridge closure changed everything.
We’re going to have to dig, crawl and fight our way out of the hole we’ve been sitting in for almost two years.
And we can do it.
But we’re going to need you.
So when that bridge opens and you once again have the choice of where to shop, where to eat, where to grab a drink, where to get your groceries, where to spend your Saturday afternoon…
Please remember Lansing.
Remember the businesses that stayed.
Remember the people who kept showing up.
Remember the owners and employees who put everything they had into simply making it through.
And when you have the opportunity to choose us again, make Lansing a priority again.
Because the bridge opening isn’t the finish line.
For the Lansing business community, it’s the starting line for the long road back.
To everyone in Lansing and the surrounding communities who has supported these businesses, encouraged them, shared their posts, continued to shop local and helped them hold on:
Thank you. Truly.
And to the businesses that have made it this far— we did it🤍
Iowa and Wisconsin Announce Early November Opening for Iowa 9 / WIS 82 Mississippi River Crossing at Lansing
