Summer is construction season in Sidney

Road construction in and around Sidney isn't coming to a halt anytime soon.

Work on Illinois street from 13th Avenue to 14th Avenue, including the intersections of both of those streets with Illinois is set to begin at the end of the month, said Sidney public services director, John Hehnke.

Initial construction is on track to start the last week of June with the replacement of some storm drains on Illinois. Traffic patterns at those intersections will start to change that week. Major construction will begin July 1. The project will involve removing all the pavement, curbs, gutters and sidewalks and replacing the roadway with concrete pavement. The $711,000 project will also involve upgrades to the traffic signals at 13th and Illinois.

"The signals are ultimately controlled by the Nebraska department of roads," Hehnke said. "We're still working to try and get some additional left-hand turn signals at that intersection."

Sidney is updating the mechanism that controls the traffic lights which should handle traffic more efficiently at the intersection. Since Illinois is also state highway 30, the city has to get state approval for changes to the traffic signals. The state doesn't think there's enough traffic to warrant the additional left hand turn signals, Hehnke said. He said it's a safety issue and a numbers issue, because traffic backs up under the underpass.

This project will affect traffic in the coming months, Hehnke said.

"It will make traffic rather difficult in the area," he said. "We have to keep highway 30 open to traffic, because it's a state highway. We've had to phase it and it slows construction down a bit."

During most of the construction, drivers traveling north or south on 13th Avenue won't be able to go straight across the intersection. They'll have to divert down a block to 12th Avenue and go around.

Residents who drive through this intersection every day will have to deal with this construction for at least a few months.

"It'll be tough for a while, but it's good in the long run," said Sidney resident and local farmer, Jake Havorka.

Other inconveniences associated with the construction will affect those who live on the north side of town.

"We're looking at about a week window in which we will have to close the underpass, just so we can get the work done," Hehnke said. "We did everything we possibly could to avoid that."

Closure of the underpass will require a detour to the north side on East Elm to Greenwood Road. The contractor is hoping to get work on the underpass done in five days. If the rest of construction goes as planned, the underpass will be closed the first full week in August. The city wants to make sure it'll be open before school starts to avoid diverting related traffic. It hopes to have all of the Illinois project completed prior to Oktoberfest.

"It's kind of hard to have the Oktoberfest parade when the street's torn up," Hehnke said.

Construction in the city's future includes two federal aid road projects. The first is called the 10th Avenue project, which will involve a complete removal and replacement of the existing roadway and upgrade of the storm sewer from Illinois south to Osage. This project is being bid by the state of Nebraska in June with construction to begin next spring.

The second federal aid road project is a mill and overlay of Fort Sidney road from highway 30 to 11th Avenue and is set to begin some time next year.

"Those two unfortunately take a lot longer to get from design to construction because of their federal aid status," Hehnke said.

The city has also begun the design process of the Toledo Street extension and Greenwood Road projects in conjunction with the East Sidney Development hospital project. Construction on those projects are also slated for next year. Part of this construction will involve replacing the Fort Sidney Road bridge. Henhke said the bridge is approximately 70 to 80 years old and estimates that replacing it will cost around $750,000.

Cheyenne county has no big roads projects planned in and around Sidney at the moment.

"We gotta work together on what we wanna get paved, we don't really know yet," said Cheyenne county highway superintendent, Tom Noel.

Noel must work with the county officials to decide which roads need attention and what the county can afford to do.

"I've got my wish list," Noel said.

Those involved consider it ideal to have some roads paved while two hot mix plants, plants that supply asphalt for pavement, are in town to work on state road projects. If the county can work something out with the plants while they're in town, they can save money on transportation costs instead of shipping the material in from farther away.

"How much we do depends on the price they give us," Noel said.

Some current state roads projects

-The Potter to Brownson interstate 80 reconstruction is the most involved of all the state projects going on in Cheyenne county. Right now all the traffic is running on what are normally the east-bound lanes of the highway while the west side is torn up and completely re-done. Next year all traffic will run on the west bound lanes while the east bound side is replaced. The project cost is estimated at around $35 million.

-The Sunol and Lodgepole links between highway 30 and interstate 80 are being milled and resurfaced at an estimated cost of $2.8 million

-Highway 19 between the Colorado state line and highway 30 is being widened and resurfaced at an estimated cost of $4.2 million

All information courtesy of Doug Hoevet, district construction engineer for the state of Nebraska and transportation.nebraska.gov