Highway Construction Season ramping up

Several highway improvements projects are gearing up and will be in progress across Nebraska this summer and continue into autumn. The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) continues work on I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln to add two new lanes to the 57 year old nationwide interstate system.  Contractors will minimize lane closures on major Holidays and UNL home football game days this spring through fall.

The westbound I-80 entrance ramp from US-6, at mile marker 409, the Waverly Interchange, is closed for remaining construction work until fall of 2013.  The exit ramp from westbound I-80 at the Waverly interchange, Exit 409, will remain open.  Access to westbound I‑80 while work is being completed at interchange 409 will be available at the 56th St./US-77 north interchange, Exit 405, and at the Greenwood/N-63 interchange, Exit 420.

Traffic has been diverted at both of these exit/entrance ramps to accommodate new construction on I-80 between Waverly west to the N. 56th/US-77 interchange at Lincoln.  Two lanes of traffic in each direction carry the head-to-head, four-lane traffic.  Concrete barriers are used to separate eastbound and westbound traffic.  A 55 mph speed limit is currently in place while traffic is in the head-to-head mode.  Work includes building four new bridges, three new westbound driving lanes with shoulders and a new I-80 westbound access loop from US-6.

A highway improvement project is also underway on US-6 between I-80 at the Waverly Interchange to Greenwood.  Concrete pavement repair, milling, asphalt overlay, bridge and traffic signal work is anticipated to be completed this fall.  Traffic is reduced to one lane during construction work using flaggers and a pilot car.  Temporary traffic signals and single-lane closures in multi-lane areas will be used.

Construction and Detour Info for Nebraska Highways For information on construction projects underway on Nebraska’s highways, check out NDOR’S website.  Here’s a direct link to the page: http://www.roads.nebraska.gov/511/detours/construction-detours-info.pdf.  You can subscribe to receive automatic emails whenever the page is updated.  The improvement projects are listed by highway number and are updated each week.  Projects listed are those that will be in progress for longer than one month.  Short-term maintenance and other highway repair work may not be on the list.  However, for roadwork less than one month in duration - call 511, the 24-hour weather and travel information system.  Check with Nebraska’s 511 or 800-906-9069 phone lines, or Web 511 TEXT VERSION pages for the most current information: http://www.511.nebraska.gov/atis/html/events.html

National Work Zone

Awareness Week

While roadway workers face obvious risks to their safety, nearly 85 percent of those killed in work zone crashes nationwide are drivers or their passengers.

During National Work Zone Awareness Week, April 15 to 19, and all season long in Nebraska, the NDOR, the Federal Highway Administration, heavy highway transportation contractors and Nebraska’s Highway Safety partners remind motorists to use extra caution when approaching and driving through highway work zones.