Nebraska: $10.2B needed over next 20 years for roads

Started by andy3175, November 11, 2014, 12:04:51 AM

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andy3175

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/article/Report-10-2B-needed-for-roads-over-20-years-5883720.php

QuoteThe Nebraska Department of Roads has identified $10.2 billion in projects that it says are needed over the next 20 years, according to a report released Monday.

Lawmakers were given the report during a joint legislative committee hearing to review the state's long-term roads funding needs. ...

About half of Nebraska's construction money comes from the federal government. Peters said the state's ability to complete the projects hinges on congressional approval of a new federal transportation bill, which was enacted in 2012 and extended until May 2015. ...

In recent years, the department has also received about $60 million annually through the Build Nebraska Act, a state law which diverts sales-tax revenue into roads projects.

Sen. John Harms of Scottsbluff said many of the planned projects are important in western Nebraska, for both safety and economic development.

Harms pointed to the planned development of the Heartland Expressway, which is expected to connect South Dakota and Colorado through the Nebraska Panhandle. Harms said he was worried that moving too slowly on the project could lead motorists to alternative routes that are planned in Wyoming.

"That would be a phenomenal loss in revenue and growth" for western Nebraska, Harms said.

The Build Nebraska Act sets aside one-quarter of a cent out of the state's 5.5-cent sales tax for projects. The 2011 law departs from Nebraska's decades-old practice of using gas-tax revenue and motor vehicle fees to pay for roads. Peters said construction is under way on the first wave of projects to receive Build Nebraska Act funding.

The department estimates that $6.6 billion is needed to restore cracked and otherwise damaged pavement over two decades. Another $3.3 billion is needed to flatten, widen or straighten rural roads and bridges, and $285.6 million is needed for similar work in urban areas, according to the report. In addition, the report calls for $179.6 million for construction on railroad crossings.
Regards,
Andy

www.aaroads.com


andy3175

More on Build Nebraska and planned projects (some of which have been discussed elsewhere on the Forum):

http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/lb-84/

Quote
FY 2014 - 2015

Hwy 133 - Blair to Omaha - Currently under construction
Kearney East Bypass, Phases 2 & 3 - May 22, 2014 Letting
Hwy 77 - Wahoo Bypass - Currently under construction
I-80 Eastbound - 126th to 96th - Omaha - Currently under construction
I-80 Westbound - I-480 to 60th Street - Omaha - Currently under construction
I-680 Northbound - North of Center through Pacific Street - Omaha - Currently under construction

FY 2016 - 2019

Hwy 30 - Schuyler to Fremont
Hwy 75 - Plattsmouth to Bellevue - North of  Platte River
Heartland Expressway - Hwy 385, L62A to Alliance
I-80 - NW 56th to Hwy 77 - Lincoln
May 29, 2014 Letting
Hwy 75 - Nebraska City SE Interchange
Hwy 6 - Hastings SE

FY 2020 - 2023

Lincoln South Beltway
Hwy 30 - US 281 West - Grand Island
Hwys 34 & 75 - Murray to Plattsmouth
Hwy 77 - Lincoln West Beltway
I-80 - 24th St. to 13th Street Interchange - Omaha
Regards,
Andy

www.aaroads.com

bugo

Why is N-133 being upgraded instead of US 75? Is it because of the topography on US 75 (former US 73)?

DandyDan

Quote from: bugo on November 11, 2014, 02:00:46 AM
Why is N-133 being upgraded instead of US 75? Is it because of the topography on US 75 (former US 73)?

N-133 is the route of choice for Blair residents wishing to go to Omaha and vice versa.  I personally believe that when people are going to Omaha, they are going somewhere in West Omaha, and for Blair residents, 133 goes towards West Omaha as opposed to US 75, which goes through North Omaha on its way to downtown Omaha.  There is also a lot of housing developments on the east side of Highway 133 before you get to Blair as well.  As for US 75, that has the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant along it and I suspect that may scare people away from developing the area and living there.  I also believe US 75 falls right on the transition between the valley and the plains above the valley when it's outside town going north from Omaha at least to Decatur (and probably north of there, but I haven't been north of there in daylight hours to see for sure).
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mrose

Can anyone tell me if/when the Wahoo bypass is finished?

I'm going to be there next month and was curious.

DandyDan

Quote from: mrose on April 19, 2015, 02:19:08 AM
Can anyone tell me if/when the Wahoo bypass is finished?

I'm going to be there next month and was curious.
As near as I can tell, without actually going there, they did some construction last year and will open it this year, but I wouldn't want to be quoted on that.  I did see last year that the road going west from the US 77/NE 109 intersection was closed for construction.  For all I know, it may be open, but I would have liked to have thought I had seen it on one of the Omaha TV channels.  I guess I'm going to have to go that way once, if only for that.
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mrose

Back from my short Nebraska trip. As of today, the Wahoo bypass not finished. It was dark when drove from Wahoo to Omaha so I didn't get a look at the progress that had been made on it, but it was definitely not close to being open.


mvak36

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Highway63

Iowa and South Dakota raised theirs this year too, so there's a cluster of states taking action.

DandyDan

FWIW, I made the trip out to Wahoo tonight, thanks to a coworker/friend who needed a ride to Wahoo and me being the only person available to do it.  The future Wahoo bypass has a sign at the US 77/NE 109 intersection which says the road is closed in one mile, so at least that one mile is built.  I didn't attempt to drive it, though (it was 10 pm by that point).
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mvak36

Bumping this thread because I ran across some new information yesterday on the NDOR website (and other sites) and didn't want to create a new one.

NDOR conducted public meetings earlier this month to get input on candidate projects for the Next 10 years (2023-2033) of the Build Nebraska Act. They will be announcing the selected projects sometime this fall.

Here are the links to the Statewide Candidate Projects list and the map that goes with it (More links are available at the previous link):
http://roads.nebraska.gov/media/4819/statewide-project-list-handout.pdf
http://roads.nebraska.gov/media/4822/statewide-candidate-map.pdf

Some interesting (to me, at least) candidate projects:
1) 6 laning I-80 from Lincoln to York (Broken up into 4 segments, so not all might be selected)
2) New interchanges on I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln (Pflug Road, 192nd St in Omaha, 162nd St in Waverly)
3) Lincoln East Beltway (Completing the loop around Lincoln)
4) Various projects needed to complete the Nebraska Expressway system
5) Converting N-2 to freeway from Lincoln to Nebraska City.

They are also looking at potentially building some projects as Super 2's

Some articles about public meetings:
http://norfolkdailynews.com/news/area-voices-support-for-expressway-at-roads-meeting/article_994d722a-4a90-11e6-b3a9-7bee3d212545.html
http://www.starherald.com/news/local_news/growing-nebraska-prioritizing-capital-improvement-projects/article_77de148f-30d7-5d4e-8a82-6dc17d56152c.html
http://www.chadrad.com/newsstory.cfm?story=39889
http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/east-beltway-earns-top-marks-from-state-roads-officials-but/article_b0822499-1d69-5bce-997b-2772529eb10c.html


Also, earlier this year, the governor signed into law the Transporation Innovation Act, which will provide an additional funding source for projects throughout the state:
https://governor.nebraska.gov/press/nebraskans-hail-gov-ricketts%E2%80%99-transportation-initiative-historic
http://journalstar.com/legislature/m-boost-will-fuel-nebraska-s-expressway-system-ricketts-says/article_d9649a0d-c13c-514b-9000-1699e67d8e77.html


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Bobby5280

How does the crazy amount of price inflation for highway construction figure into these projected funding needs?

I really wish some advancements in highway design and construction could be made to LOWER costs. Instead the price just keeps getting higher and higher and higher. Add to that the various regulations for safety, aesthetics, etc. that continue to be added. That balloons the cost even more. Between the federal government's own budgetary issues and this sky high inflation rate for construction it will eventually become impossible for most states to fund any sort of substantial highway project. States are already struggling just with maintenance costs on existing facilities.

It's one controversial thing for "new urbanists" to campaign for removing freeways to make a neighborhood more connected and walkable. I think if the trends continue cities will just start tearing down freeways for the sole reason of not being able to afford maintaining them.

The Ghostbuster


Revive 755

Quote from: mvak36 on July 29, 2016, 10:05:41 AM
Here are the links to the Statewide Candidate Projects list and the map that goes with it (More links are available at the previous link):
http://roads.nebraska.gov/media/4819/statewide-project-list-handout.pdf
http://roads.nebraska.gov/media/4822/statewide-candidate-map.pdf

Some interesting (to me, at least) candidate projects:
1) 6 laning I-80 from Lincoln to York (Broken up into 4 segments, so not all might be selected)
2) New interchanges on I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln (Pflug Road, 192nd St in Omaha, 162nd St in Waverly)

148th would seem like a better candidate, as it is already paved down to N-2, while 162nd is gravel.

Quote from: mvak36 on July 29, 2016, 10:05:41 AM5) Converting N-2 to freeway from Lincoln to Nebraska City.

Assuming there is not another project I'm getting confused with, the map makes it appear this upgrade would go all the way to the Iowa border.


There is also a project listed for adding an interchange on US 34 at Fletcher Avenue (first signal north of the I-80/I-180 cloverleaf) in Lincoln.  Then there's a listing for four-laning or building a super-2 for US 30 between Grand Island and Kearney.


mvak36

#14
Quote from: Revive 755 on July 29, 2016, 09:53:23 PM


Quote from: mvak36 on July 29, 2016, 10:05:41 AM5) Converting N-2 to freeway from Lincoln to Nebraska City.

Assuming there is not another project I'm getting confused with, the map makes it appear this upgrade would go all the way to the Iowa border.


There is also a project listed for adding an interchange on US 34 at Fletcher Avenue (first signal north of the I-80/I-180 cloverleaf) in Lincoln.  Then there's a listing for four-laning or building a super-2 for US 30 between Grand Island and Kearney.

I'm not sure about the N-2 project getting selected. In the Lincoln Journal Star article that covered the public meetings, this is what they wrote:
QuoteOn the other hand, several people criticized a $175 million option to turn Nebraska 2 into a freeway — with fewer, bigger interchanges — between Lincoln and Nebraska City, because it would limit access for farmers in the area.

This is just a guess, but I think that since US30 parallels I-80 between Grand Island and Kearney, they would go with a Super 2 (assuming the project gets selected). They also have a listing for a 4-lane/Super 2 of US30 from Grand Island to Columbus and from Fremont to Blair. Not saying this will happen (probably won't this go-round, IMO), but you could have a 4 lane/Super 2 on US30 all the way from Blair to Kearney

If I had to guess, they will select all the projects that are remaining to complete the Nebraska Expressway system: US81 from York to Columbus, US275 from Fremont to Norfolk, US77 from Fremont to Wahoo, and US75 from Murray to Nebraska City.
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Revive 755

Quote from: mvak36 on July 29, 2016, 11:53:11 PM
I'm not sure about the N-2 project getting selected. In the Lincoln Journal Star article that covered the public meetings, this is what they wrote:
QuoteOn the other hand, several people criticized a $175 million option to turn Nebraska 2 into a freeway – with fewer, bigger interchanges – between Lincoln and Nebraska City, because it would limit access for farmers in the area.

There might be opposition now, but it would be better to do the upgrade now while there is not as much development along the corridor, particularly at the end near Lincoln.  At the very least the future ROW for the upgrade should be protected.

I'm sure those criticizing the upgrade will be criticizing NDOR if they do nothing, traffic volumes go up on N-2, and several of the intersections develop safety issues.  Since there is a $6 million project in that same list for the N-2 intersection with N-67 at Dunbar, I would assume that intersection has become one of the first to do so.

mvak36

Quote from: Revive 755 on July 30, 2016, 11:45:47 AM
Quote from: mvak36 on July 29, 2016, 11:53:11 PM
I'm not sure about the N-2 project getting selected. In the Lincoln Journal Star article that covered the public meetings, this is what they wrote:
QuoteOn the other hand, several people criticized a $175 million option to turn Nebraska 2 into a freeway – with fewer, bigger interchanges – between Lincoln and Nebraska City, because it would limit access for farmers in the area.

There might be opposition now, but it would be better to do the upgrade now while there is not as much development along the corridor, particularly at the end near Lincoln.  At the very least the future ROW for the upgrade should be protected.

I'm sure those criticizing the upgrade will be criticizing NDOR if they do nothing, traffic volumes go up on N-2, and several of the intersections develop safety issues.  Since there is a $6 million project in that same list for the N-2 intersection with N-67 at Dunbar, I would assume that intersection has become one of the first to do so.

I agree with this.

I am not opposed to them changing it to a freeway (I hope they do and make it an interstate  :biggrin:). I'm just not sure they will select it this fall.
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mvak36

The projects for the Next 10 Years (2024-2033) of the Build Nebraska Act have been selected.
http://roads.nebraska.gov/projects/grow-ne/cap-improve/selection/

They selected 8 projects for construction, 12 projects for design, and beginning planning for 2 projects (Lincoln East Beltway, I-80 Interchanges betwen Omaha and Lincoln). More info at the link above.

All construction projects start in 2024, with the excecption of US275 from Scribner to West Point, which is a design-build and will start in 2019).
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The Ghostbuster

Of course that's assuming all the projects are fully funded. Are they?

mvak36

Quote from: The Ghostbuster on October 25, 2016, 03:21:13 PM
Of course that's assuming all the projects are fully funded. Are they?

My understanding is the construction ones are fully funded for construction. The design ones are funded for design, and so on...
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mvak36

Last week, the Lincoln South Beltway project received a $25 million TIGER grant. http://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/nebraska-receives-million-grant-to-build-a-lincoln-south-beltway/article_36b76f41-52b9-5d8b-a88f-0e49deb5697d.html

http://www.ttnews.com/articles/nebraska-tiger-grant-will-ease-truck-traffic-lincoln-area
QuoteThe TIGER grant contributes to the project's overall cost, which is about $300 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2020 and last about six years, according to Campana.
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mrose

I was curious to see what the status of the South Beltway was. I feel like they've been talking about it for 40 years without acting on it. I assume this is in tandem with the possible conversion of Hwy 2 to freeway. The whole thing would make a nice x80 or x29. Selfishly I always hoped growing up they'd have built the east beltway first as our way into town during the 80s and 90s was via US 6 and 84th St which was still a mostly two lane arterial until not that long ago. But with the way the sprawl has gone there, the southern part is much more pressing.

Six-laning I-80 out to York makes sense; there's still a lot of traffic bound for Kansas and points south and west who want to get to US 81. Without getting too much into fictional territory, I always thought 81 could have made a nice extension of I-135 together with a multiplex along I-80 over to Lincoln and then up US 77 to Sioux City with the entire corridor christened as I-31 or I-33.

I suppose with the limits of Lincoln and Omaha gradually creeping towards each other, it would be inevitable to see more interchanges pop up. Waverly could probably use an eastern interchange.

The possible interchange at US 34 and Fletcher is very interesting... I'm old enough to remember when there wasn't even a traffic light there, just an intersection with an ordinary right turn for people coming out of the Highlands neighborhood straight on to what is essentially the beginning of I-180.... if memory serves me right there actually isn't a whole lot of space between that and the I-80/I-180 cloverleaf so I'm curious to see how they address that.

While they are at it I hope they do something about Saltillo Road. There's a rather large petition going round to get it addressed. I've had a cousin lose her best friend on that road, so it's a little bit personal for me too. Lincoln's really exploded so much in that direction since I was around there and the road network hasn't really caught up.


Gnutella

Personally, I'm looking forward to the new eight-lane Interstate corridor from North Platte to Valentine. They need to make sure they leave enough room in the median for the Maglev tracks, though. :)

mvak36

#23
NDOT held a meeting for the Fremont Southeast Beltway project. This project is part of the second round of projects being built under the Build Nebraska Act. Construction is scheduled to start in 2020 and be completed by Fall 2021.
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mvak36

https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/m-federal-grant-to-expand-us-from-murray-to-plattsmouth/article_f61cccaf-598f-5054-82af-81aff30190e9.html
QuoteA $20 million federal grant will help expand a two-lane road between Murray and Plattsmouth to four lanes.

A segment of US 75 has been selected to receive a competitive grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) program, according to Gov. Pete Ricketts.

The segment of US 75 selected would reconstruct 6.83 miles of US 75 and US 34. The existing two-lane roadway would be replaced with a four-lane expressway.
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