NDoR on the road again

by Mary Le Arneal
posted 3/25/09

The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) is welcoming spring with the continuation of construction on Highway 79 north and south of the Platte River Bridge.

M.E. Collins Contracting Co. Inc. out of Wahoo is wrapping up the repairs that stopped with the winter weather.

Mick Jacobs, NDOR project manager, said that he expects Collins to be done in about a month. Jacobs said that on March 31 he will have a preconstruction conference with the Omaha firm U.S. Asphalt, who will be doing the asphalt that will cover the road from the Platte River bridge north

to Snyder.
In addition to the asphalt, the road will be widened two feet on each side with concrete and the asphalt.

“Our goal is to have 13 feet of roadway on every side,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs said that one side of the road will be done at a time with the road open every night, maintaining the width that it currently is. There may need to be some milling on the road for repairs.

Jacobs said the work does not have a calendar date to be done by, but U.S. Asphalt has 120 working days to complete the job. This does not include Saturday or Sundays.

“It’s a pretty tight schedule,” Jacobs said.

He explained that there is usually 15 to 20 days a month that can be counted on for work time. A tentative start date is set for April 27. Jacobs said when they are done depends on the weather, but he expects all work to be done by Thanksgiving.

“That’s achievable, but you never know,” he said.

This work will have more of an impact on downtown North Bend since the work is going “gutter to gutter.” Jacobs said that parking places will be lost while the asphalt is being laid in town.

“Another challenge will be Old Settlers weekend (June 26-28),” Jacobs said. “We will not be working that weekend.”

South of the Platte River bridge there is another project that has a tentative start date of May 11.

Joe Kuehn, NDOR project manger from Lincoln, said that Warner Construction out of Hastings has 100 working days to complete the work from the bridge to Prague. From the bridge to Morse Bluff the work will include milling and an overlay of asphalt on the entire surface. From Morse Bluff south the work will include minor grading, guard rail work, widening of the road from 24 to 28 feet with concrete for the two additional feet, some milling and an overlay of ashphalt. Two bridges closer to Prague will be worked on.

“They will get a concrete overlay which will mean one lane roads with traffic signals,” Kuehn said.

Kuehn said the job was just let on March 12 so the preconstruction conference has not yet been held, and he does not know what work will be done first, but work is scheduled to be completed by Oct. 31.

As a heads up, Kuehn said that there will be a NDOR project later this year from Prague to the Highway 92 junction that will involve ashphalt and widening the road size to 28 feet.

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