The Nebraska Department of Transportation is planning to spend $782 million on a variety of transportation projects outlined in its 2020 Construction Program, released on September 10 for public comment.
[Above photo by Jake Daniels for the Nebraska DOT.]
That includes $153 million in “emergency expenses,” added Nebraska DOT Director Kyle Schneweis in a statement and thus it will “look a bit different from what communities and the construction industry are used to: due to the impact of “historic flooding” earlier this year.
“The program, which is essentially a statewide list of asset preservation and capital improvement projects, will be a living document housed on our website and updated periodically,” he explained.
“Nebraska is a pay-as-you-go state and the Nebraska DOT has a longstanding philosophy of getting the money on the road, quickly,” Schneweis pointed out.
“This suits us well, but when faced with a $150 million plus disaster [caused by spring flooding] we need a few months to cash flow recovery efforts,” he added. “We are in a good place and as federal reimbursements come through, we’ll update the construction list and return to our regularly scheduled program.”
Schneweis said the agency’s 2020 Construction Program also includes three “long-awaited” capital improvement projects: The Lincoln South Beltway; Fremont Southeast Beltway; and the Highway 83, Super 2 Frazier Creek North & South between North Platte and McCook.