(Lincoln Journal Star) — For more than a year, the director of the Nebraska Department of Roads has been warning that declining federal highway funds will limit the state’s options.
Forget new projects, says John Craig, preserving what we have will be the goal. Craig points to rising construction costs and the expected decline in the roads budget, which was $390 million in 2006 and $341 million this year. It could be as low as $270 million next year.
Department staff is discussing a new distribution method that makes preserving the state’s highway system a top priority. For the past 20 years a percentage formula has guided the allocation of road money: 25% for I-80; 25% for expressways; 50% for the rest of the state system.
This formula assumes the state has enough money for both maintenance and new or widened highways. That’s no longer the case. Widening I-80 to six lanes, finishing the expressway system and other new construction projects will happen only if there is money left over under this proposal, which is still in the discussion stage.
Projects that could go either into the top-priority box or get stuck at the bottom of the priority list include Lincoln’s south beltway, a second Kearney interchange and completion of the Kimball bypass, a five-mile piece that completes the Scottsbluff-to-Kimball expressway, based on commissioners discussion.