Every day for months, dozens of cars have been lining up in front of Craig Dummer’s Sabula, Iowa home. 

“There’s been a lot of long lines in front of our house,” he says.  

In June, the Iowa Department of Transportation started running a ferry service across the Mississippi River. 

With Sabula’s overflow bridge down for repairs, the free ride cut down commutes from nearly an hour by road to about 20 minutes by river. 

But the $1.2 million ferry service hasn’t been able to plug another problem. 

“It’s created a lot of delays and affected the economy to a certain degree here, so when things get back to normal here it’ll be a good thing,” Dummer says.  

On Friday came a big moment for hundreds in Sabula. 

“First cross the bridge this afternoon a couple hours after it opened. It’s nice to get back to utilizing the bridge,” Dummer says.  

And Dummer hopes now that the cement has dried Sabula will get it’s jump start.

“I would say with the bridge open and when word gets out that it’s open that the traffic will return.” 

More travel by land means less travel by water; the free ferry ends on Sunday.