The Mississippi River is very wide in the La Crosse area. The river consists of a main channel, a number of sloughs and back channels, a large island known as French Island, and the Black River channel. The Black River channel was once an independent river, but the Mississippi captured the Black River several miles upstream.

The Hiawatha Islands are a pair of long narrow islands that run parallel to and on the west side of the Black River channel. Clinton Street crosses the lower island carrying County Highway B between the mainland on the Wisconsin side of the river and French Island. Nakomis Street branches off and runs the length of the lower Hiawatha Island. A short causeway connects to the upper Hiawatha Island. A channel has been cut across the lower island, which has been bridged by this short concrete girder bridge. The islands have been developed as the Hiawatha Islands subdivision. The south end of the lower island is a park.

The photo above is the east face of the Hiawatha Islands Bridge as seen from the east shore of the Black River channel of the Mississippi River. The vantage point is the parking lot of a motor lodge on US-53 just south of Interstate I-90. This photo, and the 4 photos that follow, were shot on a very cold January day in 2010.

The photo above is the west face of the bridge as seen from the northwest corner of the structure. Note that the bridge railing is attached to the side of the concrete deck structure. The photo below is looking east across the bridge deck, and across the Black River channel of the Mississippi.

These two photos are views looking down the length of the bridge deck. The photo above is looking to the south from the west side of the highway. The photo below is looking to the north, also from the west side of the highway.