Expressway: road closing, RCUT discussed for next phase

by Mary Le Arneal and Nathan Arneal
Published 10/27/21

Nebraska Department of Transportation project manager Mick Jacobs reports on the latest impact to county roads with the construction of the North Bend to Fremont Highway 30 expressway.

At the Oct. 21 weekly planning meeting, it was decided that Cutoff Road between County Road 15 Blvd and County Road S will be closed to traffic starting Oct. 25.

This closure is necessary to allow for the grading and bridge construction at this location. It will be a permanent closure of this section of Cutoff Road.
NDOT is planning to hold a public information meeting regarding proposed roadway improvements at the U.S. Highway 30 expressway and Nebraska Highway 79 intersection just north of North Bend. The meeting will be held at the North Bend Municipal Auditorium, 741 N Main St., on Tuesday, Nov. 2 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with a presentation by the NDOT at 5:15 p.m.

There was a stakeholders meeting Oct. 21 at the city auditorium to discuss options for the intersection with NDOR reps. Representatives from the city council, county board of supervisors, Chamber of Commerce and NBC were among those in attendance.

Assistant design engineer Bill Wehling spoke to the group about the Restricted Crossing U-turn intersection, or RCUT, in Humphrey and elsewhere and what they have learned from them.

There are 94 RCUTs throughout the state of North Carolina. A 59% decease of accidents and 71% decrease in fatalities was seen where the RCUT is in place.

Five years prior to the RCUT being installed in Humphrey, there were 24 accidents at the intersection. In the year the RCUT has been in place, there have been no accidents.

One problem NDOT found was that more space was needed for turning trucks. The RCUT at Humphrey has been expanded to increase the turning radius by four feet. They have proposed that the RCUT in North Bend allow for 10 extra feet.

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