Kearney east exit opens

[huskeroadgeek]

The new Kearney east bypass exit off of I-80 opened today. It is Exit 275. The exit sign reads "Kearney E. Entrance" with a space for a NE 10 shield when the whole project is finished in 2016. Currently, the new road(which is an upgrade of Cherry Ave.) is four-laned to 11th Street and will eventually extend to 78th Street and then west to the current NE 10 at the NE 40 jct. N. of Kearney.

[Scott5114]

"Kearney E. Entrance" sounds like some sort of animated character a DOT would have created in the 1960s to explain freeways to children in school videos.

[J N Winkler]

"Kearney E. Entrance" sounds like some sort of animated character a DOT would have created in the 1960s to explain freeways to children in school videos.

It is a Nebraska thing, like junction diagrammatics, "FUEL - MILEAGE - PRORATION" signs, and the word "EXIT" next to a town name on a freeway mileage sign when the town is not adjacent to the exit.

[agentsteel53]

"FUEL - MILEAGE - PRORATION" signs

I've never noticed one of these.  what are they, and where are they found? 

[J N Winkler]

"FUEL - MILEAGE - PRORATION" signs

I've never noticed one of these.  what are they, and where are they found?

Nebraska classifies this sign (which is a standard sign) as D8-4.  An illustration can be found here:

http://www.transportation.nebraska.gov/traffeng/mutcd/d1-4signs.pdf

I have found these mostly in western Nebraska.  (Nebraska in general has a few weird standard signs which are not used at all in the southeastern part of the state, which has about half the population.  "RANGE FIRES" and "CATTLE BRAND INSPECTION AREA" come to mind as representative legends.  "The more cryptic, the better" seems to be the guiding design philosophy for these signs.)

In regard to primary destination legends of the general format "[Name of City] E. Entrance," Sidney and North Platte have also had them; I don't think Kearney had them until recently since the NDOR junction plans I have in my possession shows completely normal signing there.  I think Kimball had them in the past, but lost them when the signing was revised to reflect completion of the Heartland Expressway.  (My copy of the junction plans library is now five years out of date--Randy Hersh obtained it through an open records request in 2008.)

[agentsteel53]

I probably have seen one of those, now that I think about it... but I alas pay too little attention to truck signage.  a shame, because there are some quite interesting ones.  the other day I noticed, on I-10 westbound somewhere around Cabazon, a black sign saying PRODUCE, which may very well predate the standardization to green of the early 1960s.

[Scott5114]

the other day I noticed, on I-10 westbound somewhere around Cabazon, a black sign saying PRODUCE, which may very well predate the standardization to green of the early 1960s.

is that regulatory? "you must produce–now!"

[agentsteel53]

is that regulatory? "you must produce–now!"

guide.  it says more, but I can't remember what.  PRODUCE TRUCKS LANE 4 or something similar, maybe?

[formulanone]

"Kearney E. Entrance" sounds like some sort of animated character a DOT would have created in the 1960s to explain freeways to children in school videos.

Sort of like Cecil B. Sawgrass?

[yakra]

So, it sounds like the upgraded Cherry Ave will eventually be part of NE-10.
Does it have a designation as a state connecting link until then?

[huskeroadgeek]

So, it sounds like the upgraded Cherry Ave will eventually be part of NE-10.
Does it have a designation as a state connecting link until then?

I don't know, but if it does, there is no signage for it.

[ARMOURERERIC]

"FUEL - MILEAGE - PROCREATION" signs

I fixed the misspelling in your message

[NE2]

"FUEL - MILEAGE - PROCREATION" signs

I fixed the misspelling in your message

[DandyDan]

So, it sounds like the upgraded Cherry Ave will eventually be part of NE-10.
Does it have a designation as a state connecting link until then?

Considering that NE-10 goes north to US-30 and then west into Kearney on US-30, I would think the connecting link, should one exist, be permanent even after NE-10 gets rerouted.  (FWIW, in my fictional realm, NE-44 would cover the Kearney bypass and NE-10 north of Kearney as well as its current route south of Kearney, but that's just me.)

[DandyDan]

Just went to my brother's house in Kearney earlier this week.  NE 10 is open all the way to NE 40.  At NE 39th St., they have a connecting link that loops around to US 30 on the east side of the new NE 10, which I believe to be L10F (I don't remember and I didn't take a picture, mostly because I just wanted to get to my brother's at that point).  The old NE 10 north of I-80 is signed merely with a "TO" US 30 designation.  In fact, I don't remember anything suggesting NE 10 turned there.  I don't recall an NE 10 sign along I-80.

[yakra]

Did you happen to notice if...
NE 44 was extended north along 2nd Ave to the NE 10/40 junction?
Or did NE 44 stay put, with 2nd Ave north of US30 unnumbered?

[DandyDan]

Did you happen to notice if...
NE 44 was extended north along 2nd Ave to the NE 10/40 junction?
Or did NE 44 stay put, with 2nd Ave north of US30 unnumbered?

NE 44 does not go any farther north than I-80.

[Revive 755]

Did you happen to notice if...
NE 44 was extended north along 2nd Ave to the NE 10/40 junction?
Or did NE 44 stay put, with 2nd Ave north of US30 unnumbered?

My understanding from years ago was that the north-south route between I-80 and the bypass for Kearney was to be turned over due to the state mileage cap.

[yakra]

GMSV still showed signage at US30 as recently as September 2014.
Has this been removed?
The NDOR (2015? 2016?) Log Book still has it ending at US30. Though it's now out of date, still listing NE10's old routing. I'll have to keep an eye on this...

Worst examples I can think of are dumping NE 44 through Kearney when the new bypass for NE 10 opens some year, NE 2 through Lincoln if the South Beltway ever gets built (current NE 2 through most of Lincoln is at least a semi-expressway), and dumping NE 370 when the new bridge for US 34 opens south of Bellevue, but the existing NE 370 bridge stays open.

Seems you anticipated this a while back. And were right about NE370.

[J N Winkler]

Worst examples I can think of are dumping NE 44 through Kearney when the new bypass for NE 10 opens some year, NE 2 through Lincoln if the South Beltway ever gets built (current NE 2 through most of Lincoln is at least a semi-expressway), and dumping NE 370 when the new bridge for US 34 opens south of Bellevue, but the existing NE 370 bridge stays open.

Seems you anticipated this a while back. And were right about NE370.

SR 370 still exists in Nebraska--it was Iowa that got rid of the state route designation on its side of the river.  Google Maps shows it pruned back to the Kennedy Freeway (US 75), however, and StreetView imagery dating back to June 2015 shows an obvious gap for a SR 370 shield on the first assembly coming off the Bellevue toll bridge.  Wikipedia reports the future of this bridge is uncertain since Iowa takes the view that through traffic should be using the new US 34 bridge, which is four-lane divided without tolls or height restrictions caused by truss members, to make the connection between I-29 and US 75.  I think something will have to be done about it, however, because it is the only convenient river crossing for traffic bound for Bellevue's downtown and eastern subdivisions from the north and east.

I have family that lives in the very hilly neighborhood in Bellevue to the northeast of the Lincoln/Harvell intersection.  When we visit them, we are invariably coming from the south, where the US 34 bridge in combination with a local road (Harlan Lewis Drive, skirting Offutt AFB to the east) furnishes a convenient bypass of the ongoing US 75 construction between Plattsmouth and Bellevue.  But when they travel locally between Council Bluffs and Bellevue, the US 34 bridge is too far south for them and the US 275/SR 92 crossing (next north of ex-SR 370) is now built-up with traffic signals on both sides of the river.