CORDOVA — Rep. Jeff Fortenberry noticed the muddy and slippery conditions of Cordova Road as he made his way 30 minutes behind schedule to this small village for a meeting.

“I got a taste of it,” he told the more than 50 people who gathered in Cordova Thursday to discuss the 5.5-mile stretch of gravel road that links the town to Interstate 80.

Cordova Road was on track last year to be paved but was the only Nebraska project of more than 20 left off a federal transportation bill passed earlier this year. Local leaders weren’t aware the project had been abandoned and called Fortenberry to their town of 150 for answers.

“I think the biggest question everyone here has on their mind is why were we singled out?” Cordova Mayor Delayne Eberspacher asked Fortenberry during the midday meeting. “Sure, there were budget issues, I know, but nine new projects totaling $25 million and our measly $1.5 million project gets left off?”

Fortenberry said he didn’t consider $1.5 million “measly,” and the Cordova Road project wasn’t given to him as a high priority. Former Rep. Doug Bereuter, whom Fortenberry succeeded for Nebraska’s 1st District House seat this year, had earmarked the road near his hometown of Utica for paving while he was still in office.

“It was a personal decision of Bereuter to work on this project for you,” Fortenberry said. “It was his prerogative to help you and that’s fine. But he controlled more money than me; that came with the tenure. It’s not that you were left off any list, just that the process started over when I got the projects.”

Cordova, about 45 miles from Lincoln, is the only town on the I-80 corridor with a gravel road leading to the interstate, transportation officials said at the meeting. Despite its proximity to the interstate, Cordova’s only hard-surface connection to a major thoroughfare goes 5 miles south to U.S. 6.

Village board member Angela Petersen said it was Cordova’s responsibility to convince Fortenberry that paving Cordova Road is a priority.

“We’d have liked this project done yesterday,” Petersen said. “It’s not just for the people of Cordova, but to link Highway 6 to I-80. A lot of people in this and surrounding counties commute to work, and it’s expensive to keep up the constant maintenance of a dirt road that’s constantly corroding and needs constant grading.”

Because Congress won’t see a similar transportation bill for another six years, Fortenberry offered suggestions for getting the road paved sooner, saying village and county officials could apply for federal programs or issue bonds.

Fortenberry recommended two federal programs, one for high-risk rural roads and one for service transportation, and said he would look into finding application guidelines. He also said he would look into rural economic development programs as a source of funding.

“We’re going to keep looking for options,” he said.

Eberspacher said that’s about all he expected to come out of the meeting with the congressman.

“I don’t think it was some pet project for Doug Bereuter,” Eberspacher said after the meeting. “It’s a culmination of years and years of work to get this road paved. Years. It still just feels like we got the rug pulled from under us.”

Reach Jonnie Taté Finn at 473-7395 or tfinn@journalstar.com.