South Beltway still in the works

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By the Lincoln Journal Star

The Nebraska Department of Roads can’t say when Lincoln’s South Beltway — also known as the new Nebraska 2 — will be built.

And it won’t until the federal government comes through with the lion’s share of the funding for the $154 million freeway.

A decline in federal highway funds in recent years has not stopped the state agency from doing some planning on the South Beltway, which would connect Nebraska 2 with U.S. 77.

Part of that work includes protecting the right of way for the project, so developers won’t build homes and businesses inside the proposed freeway corridor south of Lincoln.

Syed Ataullah, an engineer and design consultant coordinator, said the agency has held public meetings to gather comments from landowners and others before it begins acquiring land and doing design work.

At a meeting Wednesday, representatives from the Roads Department and city of Lincoln will answer questions and receive comments. Maps and other details will be available, but no formal presentation is planned.

The meeting will focus on the east segment of the South Beltway, which would be located between Saltillo and Rokeby roads and begin east of 84th Street and end at about 134th Street.

Similar meetings were already held for the middle segment (27th to 84th Street) and west segment (27th Street to  U.S. 77), Ataullah said.

The project will require the acquisition of private property throughout the length of the four-lane South Beltway project, the agency said. Two homes and one business in the west segments would be acquired, and possibly three homes in the east segment.

The state hasn’t bought property yet, Ataullah said.

Crews could build much of the project without affecting travel on existing roads, according to a press release, but temporary roadways around work zones would be required, and local roads could be closed at various times.

The east segment would include the following permanent changes to existing county roads:

* Rokeby Road would be closed where it crosses the Omaha Public Power District rail spur, just west of Breagan Road.

* Realignment of 98th Street would be required near Breagan Road and near Saltillo Road.

* Realignment of 120th Street near Nebraska 2 would be required.

* Also, the intersection of 134th and Nebraska 2 would be closed, and a bridge built on 134th over the highway.

By the 2030, the Roads Department estimated, the east segment of the South Beltway will carry about 21,000 vehicles daily; 21 percent of those will be trucks.

Construction will impact about five acres of wetlands, requiring  replacement, possibly south of Saltillo Road near 27th Street.

The cost of the South Beltway project is estimated at $154 million, with the east segment costing about $45 million. The city would pay 20 percent of the project’s cost.

Once funding is identified, the agency estimated, it could take five to six years to build the South Beltway.