.
The Cochrane-Fountain City School Board planned to meet in special session at 5:30 today to take action on a plan to use the school’s large parking lot as a staging area for people to park vehicles and be bused to and from Latch Island to take ferries to Winona.
Parking and pickup spots also were planned at Fountain City, said Fountain City Mayor Karl Hoffmann. He spoke with Keith Nelson, director of public works in Winona Thursday morning.
Hoffmann said the north city shop area and parking areas by the Fountain City Park will likely become parking and bus pickup spots in Fountain City beginning Monday morning.
Buffalo County Board Chairman Del Twidt said he might call a special meeting to discuss issues impacting Buffalo County since the Interstate Bridge at Winona closed Tuesday night.
"Right now we’re just waiting until the bridge inspections are done and waiting to see what Minnesota DOT is going to do,” Twidt said. “We were all very disheartened that all of this happened so quickly without any warning given to people in either state."
The bridge was shut down at 8 p.m. Tuesday and the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Department was notified of the closure about half an hour in advance.
For people on the Wisconsin side of the river, the word rapidly spread by word-of-mouth and phones, Twidt said.
“Tourism is taking a nose-dive,” he said.
.
Advertisement
