Yankton Bridge load limits concern

A 10-ton limit on the Meridian Bridge over the Missouri River in northeast Nebraska has forced truckers to take long detours, and the entire span will be closed for several weeks so repairs can be finished. A Yankton, SD official says all of this is costing truckers money and hurting business. Acting city manager Al Viereck says it’s costly for truckers to have to go 30 to 40 miles out of their way and double that to come back again.

Last week, the Nebraska Department of Roads said Jensen Construction, contractor for the new bridge that will replace the Meridian Bridge, has declined to do repair work on the older span. The department says a new contractor is being sought for that work.

Gas prices have many Nebraska travelers thinking closer, cheaper

Memorial Day weekend is the start of the summer travel season, and Midlanders facing gas prices near $4 a gallon may be looking for destinations closer to home. In the early months of this year, traffic on Interstate 80 was thinner than at the same time last year, said Tom Doering, research coordinator of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

On the other hand, travel and tourism have steadily increased in Nebraska for years, and the urge to travel may still be strong enough to put people on the road this summer.

Nebraskans have an advantage over other travelers because the prices for meals, lodging and admission to attractions are generally lower in their state than elsewhere. Earlier this month, the AAA motor club reported that average travel expenses in Nebraska for a family of four were second-lowest in the nation. Nebraska’s lodging costs are seventh-lowest in the nation, Doering said.

Shannon Mullen, senior travel sales specialist for AAA Nebraska, said patrons often mention gas prices when planning. “They say if gas prices hit $4, they don’t know if they can take their family on an extended vacation,” she said.

AAA Nebraska: Expect $4 gas within the month

A Journal Star reporter asked Rose White, the eminent public affairs director of AAA Nebraska, to answer some questions regarding fuel supplies and prices. White predicted $4 regular-grade gasoline will be here soon. “Crude closed in the U.S. futures market above $133 a barrel (Wednesday) and processed unleaded closed at $3.40 a gallon,” White said in an e-mail.

“Add to that price state fuel taxes and federal gasoline taxes, plus retail operating costs and profit margins, and we are looking at averages that are expected to be near or above the $4 level for unleaded fuel.” When asked if the $4 gasoline would affect the driving habits of Americans, White said many motorists are already making minimal changes by combining errands and using alternate transportation if available. “Small car sales are up and large vehicle sales are down.

Some companies are allowing employees to work four 10-hour days. Doing so allows employees to save 15-20% of their fuel.” White said we are paying these prices due to an increase in global demand. “It is not the result of hurricanes in the Gulf, or an explosion at a refinery, or an increase in political tensions. If any of these issues occur, it could cause immediate spikes that would send prices soaring another 10-20 cents.”

High gas prices shifting sales of new vehicles in Nebraska

Sticker shock at the pump has been good news for sales of cars. They make up a larger share of new-vehicle sales in Nebraska and Iowa than they did four years ago. While most sales in the Midlands are still sport utility vehicles and trucks, people are increasingly turning to cars because of their better gas mileage.

Car sales rose from 30% to 35% of all sales between the first quarter of 2004 and the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, SUV, truck and van sales as a percent of all sales in Nebraska decreased from 70% to 65% during that time. That’s according to Cross-Sell Report, a Louisville, Ky., firm that compiles monthly vehicle sales and registration data.

For the U.S. as a whole, about one in five vehicles sold during April was a compact or subcompact car, based on monthly sales data released Thursday. Almost a decade ago, when SUVs were at their peak of popularity, only one in every eight vehicles sold was a small car. Sales of the compact Ford Focus are up 45% in the eastern Nebraska and Kansas region.

Nebraska Unicameral Speaker: It Was A Good Session

The 2008 Nebraska legislative session was successful, said Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood of Norfolk. Funding for state roads was a contentious item, due to record high gasoline prices. The Unicameral transfered $14.5 million from the general fund for road projects. Those dollars will be matched by approximately $75 million in federal funds.

Sen. Flood said: “It’s a tough time for people, we recognize that. We didn’t want to make it any worse than we had to. At the same time, we maintained quality infrastructure across the state.” Flood added: “I think that the method of execution will be an issue next session.” The Unicameral will reconvene next January.

Nebraska state senator looks ahead to 2009

It’s only been a few days since the 2008 legislative session came to end, but state Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk is already looking ahead to 2009. At a Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce meeting last Friday, the speaker of the Nebraska Legislature identified three primary goals he will be working on next year — the nursing college division proposed for Norfolk, road funding and recruiting more jobs to Nebraska.

State senators took some important steps this session in regard to highway funding — a 1 cent increase in the state gas tax and agreeing to use $15 million in state cash reserves in order to make use of about $75 million in federal highway earmarks.

But much more work needs to be done, Flood said. Flood said he looks forward to sitting down with Gov. Dave Heineman to, hopefully, plan a course of action for the future.

New method of gathering roads dollars approved by Nebraska senators

A new method of taxing fuel in the state has received final approval from the Legislature. It won’t cause drivers to pay more in the short term, because an appropriation bill attached to the measure was removed by lawmakers.

Besides creating a 5% wholesale tax on fuel, the bill (LB846) approved Thursday would take $15 million from the state’s reserve over the next three years to help pay for road construction.

Heineman vetoes gas tax boost

The portion of the state budget that would have required a fuel tax increase of about a penny per gallon was vetoed Wednesday by Gov. Dave Heineman. It was the only veto he made in the budget plan passed by the Legislature last week. He signed the rest of the spending bills, along with a bill changing the state school aid formula. The school aid measure, LB988, will mean a smaller increase in growth in state aid for the 2008-09 school to help close an estimated $60 million gap between spending and expected state revenues.

Together, the budget and state aid changes mean state spending for the two-year budget period ending June 30, 2009, will total about $6.8 billion. That amounts to 4.6% average annual growth in state spending. Lawmakers passed a budget requiring an estimated 1.2 cents per gallon increase in the state motor fuel tax on July 1 as a way to maintain current funding for road construction. Heineman expressed appreciation for the Legislature’s willingness to look at the road funding challenges. But he did not agree with their solution.

State Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine said that if lawmakers don’t override the veto, the governor’s action means that much less money will be available for road maintenance and construction. She said the state road-building budget already faces a crisis. Meanwhile, the governor voiced hope that U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and the rest of Nebraska’s congressional delegation, all Republicans, would be able to secure more federal dollars for the state’s road-building efforts.

Nebraska senators advance roads funding bill

A coalition of rural lawmakers won first-round approval Wednesday for legislation (LB846) that would create a new gasoline tax formula based on price rather than the amount sold. When combined with a previously approved budget increase for the Nebraska Department of Roads, the bill would result in an estimated 4.5 cent per gallon increase — 1.2 cents on July 1 and 3.3 cents Jan. 1.

The Roads Department budget would be increased by a little more than $30 million. “We have to have more money for roads — that is the purpose of this bill,” said State Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine, sponsor of LB846. The new tax — a 5% excise tax on the average wholesale price of gasoline — was proposed to shore up Nebraska’s highway construction funds in the face of declining gasoline tax revenue, uncertain federal aid and skyrocketing costs for materials. Gov. Dave Heineman has said he opposes creating a new tax, preferring to first see whether the federal government will provide additional highway funds. But lawmakers rejected his budget proposal to use $15 million in general funds to tide the Roads Department over for one year. Fischer said Wednesday that she would support overriding the governor’s veto of either gas tax increase.

Lawmakers voted 27-12 to give first-round approval to the measure creating the new tax and 27-10 in favor of a second bill, LB 846A, authorizing the Roads Department to spend the $16 million generated in the first five months the new tax takes effect. Rural lawmakers dominated the group backing the increase.

Nebraska among states balking at road-work earmarks

rrod Haberman of Gering, Neb. has a “Field of Dreams” feeling about the Heartland Expressway in western Nebraska. If they build it, people and prosperity will come, he says. So Haberman, director of the Panhandle Area Development District, cheered when Nebraska lawmakers won a $21.5 million earmark for the expressway in a big 2005 federal highway bill. Nebraska Department of Roads officials aren’t so sure. “A road, in and of itself, is not going to build the economy for them,” says Roads Director John Craig.

The department is letting the earmarked money sit in the federal treasury, along with another $20 million for an eastern Nebraska expressway and several million dollars for an I-80 interchange near Kearney. Nationally, some other state roads departments aren’t using millions of dollars Congress earmarked for road and bridge projects in the five-year highway bill, says the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Why? States must kick in 20% matching funds, which some roads officials say they don’t have and don’t want to spend because they view Congress’ pet projects as “low priority” on their rankings of road-building needs.

In many cases, they say, the earmarked money covers only a fraction of a project’s total cost. These road wars over earmarks, inserted by lawmakers into bills to steer federal money to their states, are intensifying concerns about a looming highway-funding crisis. Soaring construction costs, limited state budgets, increased traffic and decaying roads are pushing federal and state officials to seek new ways of financing road work nationwide. And in Nebraska, roads officials increasingly have become skeptical of federal earmarks.

Congress’ fondness for earmarking highway bills undermines confidence in decisions made at the federal and state level, says a new report by the congressionally chartered National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. Other roads departments in the Midwest, for the most part, aren’t throwing up roadblocks on earmarks. But Craig says widening 136 miles of the Heartland Expressway to four lanes from South Dakota to Scottsbluff would cost $272 million. So far, about 65 miles of the expressway has been built in Nebraska.

State Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth said much of the expressway could be built for far less initially as a “super two,” where a third passing lane would be added only on hills, and later expanded into a four-lane border-to-border roadway.