Nebraska

[Rothman]

Yeah, DOTs referring to US Routes as just "Route X" is fairly commonplace now, unfortunately.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCdbi6mvZqI

Here's an updated video on the progress of the Lincoln South Beltway project.

[yakra]

^ Pure daycent soundtrack, kid.
Last time I was in Nebraska I picked up a copy of Fila Brazillia live at Victoria & Albert. Record store clerk suggested I dig on some Four Tet & DJ Kicks.

[The Ghostbuster]

When the Lincoln Southern Beltway is completed, the Jerome and Betty Warner Memorial Highway will be a seemless express route from Lincoln to Nebraska City. Maybe Nebraska could also remove all remaining at-grade intersections along US 77 from the LSB to Interstate 80.

[yakra]

https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/long-delayed-nebraska-expressway-program-moving-forward-but-not-fast-enough-for-some/article_01a8404c-61a8-5909-bb2e-9eabfa60ce01.html

This article from 2021 has a series of B&W photos of N-2 in Lincoln from 1966-1985.

[Route66Fan]

https://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/long-delayed-nebraska-expressway-program-moving-forward-but-not-fast-enough-for-some/article_01a8404c-61a8-5909-bb2e-9eabfa60ce01.html

This article from 2021 has a series of B&W photos of N-2 in Lincoln from 1966-1985.

Article has a paywall.

[In_Correct]

I Hate Paywall:

JournalStar.com
Search The Lincoln Journal Star

E-Edition
News
Obituaries
Opinion
Huskers
Entertainment
Lifestyles
Jobs
83° Clear
EDITOR'S PICK ALERT TOP STORY
Long-delayed Nebraska expressway program moving forward, but not fast enough for some



Paul Hammel Omaha World-Herald Jun 13, 2021 Updated Dec 8, 2021
Highway 30 past Columbus
A four-lane portion of U.S. 30 stretches from Columbus, but other sections remain two lanes despite the Nebraska Expressway System project being approved 33 years ago.

HANNAH SCHRODT, COLUMBUS TELEGRAM
Facebook
Twitter
Email
PrintCopy article link
Save
Paul Hammel Omaha World-Herald

00:00 — Intro

00:10 — Highway 77

01:00 — West Interchange

01:26 — Flyover Bridge

02:14 — Lincoln South Beltway Mainline

02:20 — 25th Street and Salt Creek

02:30 — Jamaica Trail North

02:38 — BNSF Railroad

02:26 — 27th Street and 38th Street

03:14 — 54th Street

03:23 — 68th Street

04:03 — 82nd Street

04:37 — 98th and Saltillo Road

05:19 — OPPD Railroad

05:29 — 120th Street

05:58 — Nebraska Highway 2

06:28 - Outro

When he was mayor of Columbus, there was one question Mike Moser could never answer from companies looking to locate in his east-central Nebraska city: When are the four-lane expressways to Columbus ever going to be completed?

Moser, now a state senator, has a notebook full of expected completion dates that have come and gone over the years.

The state's expressway program, launched in 1988, was designed to connect every Nebraska community larger than 15,000 people to an interstate with a four-lane, divided expressway. It was projected to be completed in 15 years.

But 33 years later, about 178 miles of the 600-mile system remain undone, including expressways sought by Columbus to link up with Fremont and Omaha, and to provide access to Interstate 80 at York.



Frustration is growing, especially in northeast Nebraska, where officials think they've been overlooked in completing expressways that would improve traffic safety and help businesses transport goods.

This spring, concerns sparked a concerted push by state senators and mayors from that region to accelerate progress. It was backed by a lobbying group, 4 Lanes 4 Nebraska, formed by area businesses and cities.

"We talk a lot about growing Nebraska but we don't see many hard policy tools to do that,"  said Norfolk Mayor Josh Moenning, who helped found the 4 Lanes 4 Nebraska group in 2015.

The result?

Contracts to begin work on a couple of key segments were signed recently by the Nebraska Department of Transportation, but the major legislation pushed by the northeast Nebraskans – to issue bonds to jump-start about $400 million worth of construction – was put off until next year.

Fremont Sen. Lynne Walz, who introduced the bonding bill, said she agreed to postpone debate on the measure after meeting with Gov. Pete Ricketts, who opposes bonding and wants to retain the state's conservative tradition of "paying as you go"  to finance road building and other state projects. Ricketts agreed to visit Columbus, Fremont and Norfolk to explain the state's plans.

Walz said there's a possibility more money might be coming Nebraska's way, either in the federal infrastructure bill being pushed by President Joe Biden or an $83 million request filed by U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, so it's worth waiting to see.

Saltillo Road set to reopen as South Beltway work shifts
"It kind of felt like we had a little leverage right now,"  she said. "We're not going to push (the bonding bill), but we're not going to let it go away."

Said Moser, "There's been a little burst of activity. Now, if we can keep that momentum going."

Several explanations have been given over the years about why the state's expressway plan has been delayed so long. At the top of the list has been a lack of funding, but there's also been a significant rise in construction costs, as well as delays for environmental impact studies, particularly on the U.S. 275 portion, where Ricketts has said work was delayed 12 to 18 months.

Plus, the state has other road-building priorities to deal with, as well as addressing several highway bridges and roads washed out by the devastating floods of 2019.

A spokeswoman for the State Department of Transportation acknowledged that expressway work hasn't moved as quickly as some want, but emphasized that progress has been made, particularly in recent months.

Looming large: On 11-mile construction site, bridge at end of South Beltway rises
The spokeswoman, Jeni Campana, added that additional money provided by the Build Nebraska Act wasn't available until eight years ago, and it can take that long, or longer, to get a project planned, contracted and underway. The act earmarked a quarter-cent of state sales taxes – about $60 million a year – for road construction, and it has been used on some expressway projects.

"Since last fall, we have celebrated work starting on the Heartland Expressway, Fremont Southeast Bypass, Lincoln South Beltway, and soon, U.S. 275 from Scribner to West Point and U.S. 75 from Murray to Plattsmouth,"  Campana said.

Norfolk Sen. Mike Flood said the start of construction between Scribner and West Point was "huge"  given the issues with wetland mitigation. He said he thinks the state is now "getting serious"  about completing the expressways.

But Fortenberry said he has to "grip the wheel tighter"  when he drives the two-lane portion of U.S. 275 in northeast Nebraska, an area he says has one of the highest concentrations of agricultural production in the nation.

"It needs enhancement,"  said Fortenberry, who is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Fortenberry made the $83 million request – which would cover 80% of the cost to finish the West Point to Stanton portion of the U.S. 275 expressway – his priority in the federal highway bill. Whether it is approved or not, or is folded into Biden's infrastructure bill, should be sorted out by the end of the year.

Walz and Moser say that bonding – an idea floated in the past – is the answer to speed up progress, and that it has been used frequently by cities and schools to get expensive projects done immediately. The state could borrow $400 million, and get several projects started at once, instead of doing it segment by segment, they maintain.

State moving forward with U.S. 77 bypass near Fremont
Moser said no one would build a house like the state is building its expressway system: by first building a basement, then a few years later, the first floor, and even later, the upper story.

He added that highway construction costs have risen 50% over the past two decades while the state has been trying to "get our ducks in a row,"  which is raising expenses that could be avoided by borrowing now and paying off the debt later.

"We're happy to see some progress. We just aren't where we need to be yet,"  Moser said.

But the governor, as well as the State Department of Transportation, both oppose the bonding bill. In a recent column about "putting the brakes on bad bills,"  Ricketts wrote that if the state issued $400 million in highway bonds, it would be paying them off until 2033 and that millions would be "wasted"  on interest payments instead of concrete.

The governor added that there is additional money available, about $25 million a year, after the Legislature passed, over his veto, a 6 cent-a-gallon increase in the state's gas tax in 2015.

"Taking on debt is forever; it never gets paid off,"  Ricketts wrote. Bonding would also jeopardize Nebraska's top rating as a fiscally responsible state that doesn't take on debt, he said.

Lawmakers did take one minor step this year by passing a bill, introduced by Moser, that requires the Nebraska Department of Transportation to provide more precise timetables on when segments of expressways will be completed.

Moser said that Columbus officials have heard many promises about when the expressways to the community would be completed. The first portion eastward from Columbus was finished in 2002, and the rest, he said, were supposed to be done soon after that, but have been delayed several times.

"If things aren't going to get done in a reasonable time, then the Legislature needs to step in,"  he said.

Progress report
Here is a look at recent progress on six segments of the expressway system in eastern Nebraska:

* U.S. 275, Scribner to West Point. An $83 million contract was signed earlier this month to build three segments providing an 18.5-mile link between the two communities. Work on the southern portion will begin next month, the northern portion in the fall, and in between in summer 2022. A contract to build a bypass around Scribner is to be awarded this fall.

* U.S. 275, West Point to near Stanton. The state has tried unsuccessfully so far to obtain federal money for a 16-mile segment from Stanton to Wisner.

* U.S. 30, Rogers to Fremont. The segment from Rogers to North Bend is expected to be completed this summer. Work on grading and installing culverts on the section from North Bend to Fremont is underway. A second phase, to pave four lanes, is anticipated to be contracted this fall, with construction to start in spring 2022.

* U.S. 77, Fremont to Wahoo. Preliminary planning is underway. It has not been scheduled for construction.

* U.S. 81, Columbus to York. Initial planning is about to start. It has not been scheduled for construction.

* U.S. 75, from Plattsmouth to Nebraska City. Work on the Plattsmouth to Murray segment is expected to begin soon. Planning for the rest of the expressway to Nebraska City has not yet begun.



PhotosFiles: Highway 2 through Lincoln
Highway 2
Highway 2
Traffic on Highway 2 near 27th Street looking west toward the State Penitentiary in 1967.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
This 1966 aerial photo looks north toward Highway 2, with  27th Street on the right.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
A view from south of Highway 2 between 40th Street (left) and 48th Street looking north.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
40th Street (center) south of Highway 2 looking north in 1966.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
This 1966 aerial photo looking north shows Highway 2 bisecting 56th Street.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
Highway 2 near 48th Street looking west in 1967.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
Highway 2 looking west near Pine Lake Road in 1967. 70th Street is at the top of the hill.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
Motorists driving into Lincoln on Highway 2 to go to work provide evidence of the bedroom community concept that many small towns are accepting and nurturing. (Undated photo)



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
This July 1979, photo shows major work being done at U.S. 77, 14th Street and Highway 2. This aerial photo looking northwest shows how an extension of 13th Street would intersect with Highway 2 in front of the State Department of Roads complex.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
The Rock Island railroad bridge over Highway 2 near 27th Street was a bottleneck that prevented widening of the highway to four lanes. But in 1983, negotiations between the Nebraska Department of Roads and the Rock Island Railroad bankruptcy trustee led to 1985 removal of the bridge. This photo looks to the west.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
The longtime obstacle to the widening of Highway 2 between 24th and 38th streets was removed in May of 1985. Contractors lifted the abandoned Rock Island railroad bridge from its concrete abutments just east of 27th Street. The removal was part of a $2.4 million project to widen the 1.2-mile stretch to four lanes. A similar railroad bridge that spanned 27th Street just south of the highway was removed the same year.



Journal Star archives
Highway 2
Highway 2
Pioneers Boulevard (upper left) merges into Highway 2 in February of 1985. This photo is looking east.

Journal Star archives
0
0
0
0
0

[mrose]

I remember that bridge. My folks complained about it incessantly. It only came down about a year after we moved away.

It seems like all the Highway 2 upgrades over the years were about 5-10 years overdue by the time they actually happened.

[DandyDan]

Just curious about what's going on in Fremont. I looked at Google Maps recently because I was in Omaha and planned to go up to Fremont one day (which didn't happen, because my AC went out in my car and we couldn't reschedule) and there appeared to be construction in southeast Fremont. Is that supposed to be a rerouted US 77?

[mvak36]

Just curious about what's going on in Fremont. I looked at Google Maps recently because I was in Omaha and planned to go up to Fremont one day (which didn't happen, because my AC went out in my car and we couldn't reschedule) and there appeared to be construction in southeast Fremont. Is that supposed to be a rerouted US 77?

Yes, they will reroute US77. Here's the latest project info that I could find: https://dot.nebraska.gov/projects/future-projects/fremont-southeast-beltway/

Fact Sheet

[mvak36]

Interesting article today about the routing of I-80 through Omaha.

https://omaha.com/news/local/history/stu-pospisil-the-battle-to-bring-the-interstate-to-omaha/article_6588bf80-092f-11ed-842b-f381ac1a42d6.html

EDIT: I apologize if this thing shows that it is behind a paywall. It worked fine when I opened it in the private browsing on my laptop earlier.

[andy3175]

Interesting article today about the routing of I-80 through Omaha.

https://omaha.com/news/local/history/stu-pospisil-the-battle-to-bring-the-interstate-to-omaha/article_6588bf80-092f-11ed-842b-f381ac1a42d6.html

EDIT: I apologize if this thing shows that it is behind a paywall. It worked fine when I opened it in the private browsing on my laptop earlier.

This paragraph caused me to reflect on whether Nebraska is the only state with no north south primary interstate in the lower 48:

Nebraska State Engineer Wardner Scott early on recommended the route that stuck for I-80. It started with the U.S. Highway 6 corridor from the Missouri River to Lincoln, then U.S. 34 and Nebraska Hwy 2 from Lincoln to Grand Island and U.S. 30 from Grand Island to the Wyoming state line. He also unsuccessfully sought U.S. 81 as a north-south interstate (Nebraska remains the only state without one).

I can't think of another example of a state in the lower 48 with no primary north south interstate. But there are several with no primary east west interstate such as Delaware, Maine,  New Hampshire, and Vermont.

SM-S908U

[skluth]

Interesting article today about the routing of I-80 through Omaha.

https://omaha.com/news/local/history/stu-pospisil-the-battle-to-bring-the-interstate-to-omaha/article_6588bf80-092f-11ed-842b-f381ac1a42d6.html

EDIT: I apologize if this thing shows that it is behind a paywall. It worked fine when I opened it in the private browsing on my laptop earlier.

This paragraph caused me to reflect on whether Nebraska is the only state with no north south primary interstate in the lower 48:

Nebraska State Engineer Wardner Scott early on recommended the route that stuck for I-80. It started with the U.S. Highway 6 corridor from the Missouri River to Lincoln, then U.S. 34 and Nebraska Hwy 2 from Lincoln to Grand Island and U.S. 30 from Grand Island to the Wyoming state line. He also unsuccessfully sought U.S. 81 as a north-south interstate (Nebraska remains the only state without one).

I can't think of another example of a state in the lower 48 with no primary north south interstate. But there are several with no primary east west interstate such as Delaware, Maine,  New Hampshire, and Vermont.

SM-S908U

Wisconsin did not have one in the original 1956 design, but it now has three. I-43 was added to the system in 1981. I-39 and its ridiculously long concurrency in Wisconsin was added in 1992. The redundant I-41 was designated in 2012. I figure in another ten years Wisconsin will get bored again and designate a northern I-37 concurrent with US 53 north of Eau Claire just to annoy the rest of us.

[brad2971]

Interesting article today about the routing of I-80 through Omaha.

https://omaha.com/news/local/history/stu-pospisil-the-battle-to-bring-the-interstate-to-omaha/article_6588bf80-092f-11ed-842b-f381ac1a42d6.html

EDIT: I apologize if this thing shows that it is behind a paywall. It worked fine when I opened it in the private browsing on my laptop earlier.

I was able to read it, especially the part where the author is confident that Omaha and Nebraska will likely not add interstate mileage. On the contrary; Nebraska DOT can easily make a request to FHWA to add an entire recently-completed freeway to the system. US275 from the east US30 interchange to L-28B, L-28B to 204th St, and US6 from 204th St to I-680 can, and should, be renumbered with one number: I-780. That whole stretch is interstate-quality freeway; what stops Nebraska DOT from making that request?

[Revive 755]

^ I think it would be more likely for the Lincoln beltway to become either I-280 or I-880 when fully completed.  The way the beltway is/will be favored as the through route at the US 77 interchange and eventually at the Highway 2 interchange really makes me wonder if there is a plan for a single number for it.

[In_Correct]

Just In Case:

https://omaha.com/news/local/history/stu-pospisil-the-battle-to-bring-the-interstate-to-omaha/article_6588bf80-092f-11ed-842b-f381ac1a42d6.html

Johnny Rosenblatt was indignant.

"What Iowa is trying to do is to selfishly serve the purpose of a community of about 100,000 and detract from the welfare of a city (of) 300,000 people and a metropolitan area of more than 400,000,"  Omaha's mayor said in 1956. "Well, they won't get away with it."

If a couple of Iowa highway commissioners had gotten their way, how Interstate 80 was routed around Omaha could have been just that. Routed around Omaha. And Council Bluffs, too.



Stu Pospisil

The transcontinental highway could have gone north of both cities, cutting through the Loess Hills much closer to Council Bluffs, crossing the Missouri River on the Mormon Bridge and looping around Omaha to the north and west. Or had a commissioner from Sioux City prevailed, Iowa's western terminus for I-80 could have been more than 20 miles from where Nebraska wanted to link up.




It's interesting to recall how the interstate system could have been laid out in Omaha and think about how it could have changed traffic patterns. Beyond using the Interstate 680 corridor or a wider arc from Iowa, I-80 could have come in from Lincoln on a diagonal between Ralston and Papillion. Interstate 480 into downtown could have been a diagonal from 56th and L Streets.

The concept of a national system of interstate highways came to the fore while World War II was still being fought in 1944. All cities of 100,000 or more population were to be connected by the 40,000 miles of four- or six-lane roads.

Nebraska State Engineer Wardner Scott early on recommended the route that stuck for I-80. It started with the U.S. Highway 6 corridor from the Missouri River to Lincoln, then U.S. 34 and Nebraska Hwy 2 from Lincoln to Grand Island and U.S. 30 from Grand Island to the Wyoming state line. He also unsuccessfully sought U.S. 81 as a north-south interstate (Nebraska remains the only state without one).

Little happened – except for the state's formation of a turnpike authority that was told a toll road wasn't feasible unless Iowa also built one – until September 1955 when the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads released a map of authorized interstate main and connecting routes. Four were for the Omaha-Council Bluffs area.

The east-west main route was to come in from the southwest through South Omaha, use the South Omaha Bridge (since renamed Veterans Memorial) across the Missouri River and swing around Council Bluffs to the southwest and east. There also would be a north-south main route on the Iowa side of the river. The connecting routes were a southwest radial to run diagonally from downtown Omaha to connect with the interstate; and a bypass crossing north Omaha via the Mormon Bridge through the Loess Hills to connect with the main route near Weston in Pottawattamie County.

It took President Eisenhower's State of the Union address in 1956 to stir Congress to approve the Federal Aid Highway Act that June. Then the bickering between the states for linking the transcontinental four-lane began in earnest. While Nebraska was adamant about the route serving South Omaha and new industry in southwest Omaha, Iowa was looking out for Sioux City and wanted the main route, not the bypass, to intersect with the north-south interstate north of Council Bluffs.

Nebraska officials charged that Sioux City was trying to siphon Omaha Stockyards traffic – although such a route would have violated federal laws that required interstates to connect key cities and state capitals.

"It's going to be as far north as the Mormon Trail and perhaps farther north. We're going to push it up there to help the northern part of Iowa as much as we can,"  said John Butter, the chief engineer for the Iowa Highway Commission.

Butter wasn't pulling Nebraska's leg. One Iowa commissioner, Mel Graham of Audubon, proposed that the two interstates, known then as U.S. 6 and 75, intersect at Honey Creek. But what the commission approved on Aug. 29, 1956, was putting the interchange at Loveland, 23 miles north of South Omaha. Even that wasn't close enough to Sioux City for commissioner Chris Larsen. Looking out for his city's interests, Larsen would have liked it north of Missouri Valley.

The dispute lasted well over a year. Both options were built. Interstate 80 (the present numbering system began in 1957) split at Neola. Interstate 80N (later 680 and now 880) was built west to I-29 at Loveland and I-80 came into Council Bluffs on a southwest beeline.

Iowa finished I-80N first, partly because a new Missouri River bridge wasn't required. I-80 wasn't completed between Omaha and Council Bluffs until December 1972 – six years after I-80N – with the opening of the Spring Street bridge.

The linkup with Lincoln was much less contentious. The alignment was going to follow U.S. 6 to Melia Hill east of Ashland then continue northeast. A January 1955 State Highway Department wish list map for modernizing highways shows the Ralston-Papillion diagonal connecting with L Street at 56th Street at an intersection with a "Belt Line Highway"  that would have arced to the Mormon Bridge. But the subsequent federal Bureau of Public Roads alignment, with the interstate swinging to the east at 108th and L Streets and staying north of the Union Pacific main line, is what was built.

A brief digression. The 1955 "wish list"  produced several key roads – Nebraska Hwy 370 linking Bellevue and Papillion with Gretna, the extension of L Street from 84th Street to 132h Street and a new Industrial Road built to connect L Street with West Center Road for a new route for livestock trucks.

The Belt Line didn't make it off the wish list. Its southern leg, originally tagged the South Omaha Access Road, would have followed a Chicago & Northwestern Railroad branch line from 77th and Dodge but was deemed to run too close to the College of St. Mary campus. Its northern portion became the corridor for Omaha's western interstate loop.

Interstate 480's diagonal alignment died with the recommendation in October 1956 that four expressways radiate from a multi-level interchange north of 28th and Dodge Streets. I-480 became the south and east spokes. The North Freeway was originally meant to merge with 30th Street at Parker Street and a West Expressway was to follow the Dodge corridor to 85th Street but succumbed to neighborhoods aghast that it would cut through Dundee, Elmwood or Memorial Parks and Fairacres.

The first Omaha-to-Lincoln Interstate traffic was in August 1961 via I-280 (it was renumbered I-680 in the mid-1960s) that had been opened to West Dodge Road the previous summer. Several weeks later, I-80 was opened from the I-280 junction to 72nd Street. An extension to 42nd Street opened in September 1962.

A month later, I-480 opened to southbound traffic from Leavenworth Street. When I-480 was completed late in 1970, it was the only interstate linked to Iowa. I-80 had reached 24th Street and I-680 had been built to only to Nebraska 133 (Blair High Road).

Interstate 680 reached completion in 1975 with the opening of the companion span to the Mormon Bridge. Iowa already had renamed 80N to 680. And then it renamed it, to I-880, in the wake of the 2019 flooding stemming from confusion about which leg of 680 was closed, the one to Crescent (which was true) or the one to Loveland.

And for a short time, there was an I-580. From 1975-79, the North Freeway (controversial because it went through the heart of North Omaha) was on the interstate system before it was declassified to free up money to build the Storz Expressway to Eppley Airfield.

Omaha isn't likely to add interstate mileage. But much dust has settled on the 2010 study that recommended a beltway for the Elkhorn River valley. Anyone who takes an ever-increasingly congested Nebraska Hwy 31 from Elkhorn through Gretna desires a faster route to I-80.

[SD Mapman]

Interesting article today about the routing of I-80 through Omaha.

https://omaha.com/news/local/history/stu-pospisil-the-battle-to-bring-the-interstate-to-omaha/article_6588bf80-092f-11ed-842b-f381ac1a42d6.html

EDIT: I apologize if this thing shows that it is behind a paywall. It worked fine when I opened it in the private browsing on my laptop earlier.

I was able to read it, especially the part where the author is confident that Omaha and Nebraska will likely not add interstate mileage. On the contrary; Nebraska DOT can easily make a request to FHWA to add an entire recently-completed freeway to the system. US275 from the east US30 interchange to L-28B, L-28B to 204th St, and US6 from 204th St to I-680 can, and should, be renumbered with one number: I-780. That whole stretch is interstate-quality freeway; what stops Nebraska DOT from making that request?

Probably that no one has pushed them to do it honestly. The local drivers just call it West Dodge in Omaha and probably don't notice the numbering jumps as you head toward Fremont.

[mrose]

Latest Lincoln South Belt video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO0qyOdZdCg

[jtespi]

Those are really cool update videos!

I like that they're using so many roundabouts, and not just regular roundabouts but teardrop-shaped ones. It should help cut down traffic congestion at exit ramps.
The teardrop shape is also gentler for through traffic and reduces conflicts by eliminating one location people could "make a U-turn." You can still make a U-turn but you just have to cross the bridge and use both roundabouts.

[Alps]

Just noticed 24B is exit 248. Honorary member of exit equaling route number club.

[mrose]

October beltway update. Coming along nicely. The new 120th St interchange is partially open; traffic from the Nebraska Parkway section of N-2 is now being diverted onto the beltway alignment feeding into old N-2 via two of the ramps. At the other end, nearly all the paving for the US 77 interchange appears to be finished or close. Some of the comments are suggesting the entire project may open ahead of schedule.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JETfXd9T6ek

[zzcarp]

Another great video. It looks like it could be open around Thanksgiving based on the progress shown.

And, did anyone else notice the music at the beginning sounded like a knockoff of the Halloween theme?

[SD Mapman]

Another great video. It looks like it could be open around Thanksgiving based on the progress shown.

I'll check when I go down to my in-laws.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Video of the Lincoln South Beltway project as of November 2022...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19QYwgxS1eo

[mrose]

Fully striped and everything. Some signage still needed of course, but I'm amazed at how far along this is now.