(Radio Iowa) – The Interstate 80 bridge that spans the Mississippi River between Le Claire, Iowa and Rapids City, Illinois needs to be replaced, but instead of demolishing the structure, an innovative proposal is emerging. The Bison Bridge Foundation wants to repurpose the bridge, opening it to pedestrians and wildlife, including a herd of American bison. Alexis Banks of Dyersville, a landscape and architecture student at Iowa State University, was part of a group that drafted design ideas for the proposed bridge.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is considering seven potential locations for the interstate’s Mississippi River crossing. A study on the existing bridge’s future is expected to be completed in 2023. The bridge opened in 1966.

(reporting by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)