There are lots of concerns about drought, of course, but there’s good news linked to historic low snowfall. It saves the city a lot of money.
Take potholes. The city typically spends about $1 million to repair potholes each year, according to Lincoln Transportation and Utilities spokeswoman Erika Hill.
But it has filled far fewer than normal so far this year.
Through the end of March, LTU had received 100 comments related to potholes since the beginning of the year. The city doesn’t separate complaints from other comments or compliments, but I’ll go out on a limb and say there aren’t a whole lot of people who call in to compliment the city on potholes.
It had filled 5,444 potholes by the end of March.
Compare that with last year’s 1,002 pothole comments and the 54,271 potholes the city filled and you have a 90% decrease.
That's a roughly $900,000 savings right there, which will be used for more extensive street repairs.Â
It's all thanks to a lot less of the white stuff and the associated expansion and contraction of water as it freezes and thaws. So far, according to University of Nebraska-Lincoln climate records, Lincoln has gotten 5.1 inches of snow this winter.
That’s not much. By the end of January, Lincoln had gotten about a quarter of the snow it typically gets by that time, and since then only 1.4 more inches have fallen. If that’s it for the season, that will be the lowest total at least since 1899, which is how far back records go.
Liz Elliott, Lincoln Transportation and Utilities director, was circumspect on the prospect of an April snowstorm Monday when talking to the City Council.
“The chances of snow in April are slim-to-none, but you always hold your breath, because you never know,†she said.
LTU officials are still trying to estimate how much they think they'll save in winter operations, which include brining, salting, sanding and snow removal on city streets.
But there will be savings, and Elliott told the council officials haven’t yet decided how to spend them, though it could include reinvesting in the city’s snowplow fleet.
Speaking of which, she told the council that supply chain issues mean the city has yet to get the snowplows it ordered last year.
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“It’s a good thing it was a light winter, because we didn’t have those snowplows,†she said.
Upcoming street projects
Lincoln will get more roundabouts this year, 9.6 miles of city sidewalks will be repaired, as will 125 sidewalk curb connections around 20 schools, and signals along North 27th Street will be synchronized.
Those are among the street projects LTU has planned for the coming year.
Two of the new roundabouts will be included with paving projects along South First Street south of West Denton Road and along South 70th Street near the new Standing Bear High School.
The Salt Creek and Wedgewood neighborhoods will also get their streets repaved and the city will complete the sidewalk along Old Cheney Road connecting to the Jamaica North Trail.
Eleven neighborhoods, two streets in industrial areas and three stretches of arterials along 14th, Randolph and 84th streets will be fixed using money from a quarter-cent sales tax for road improvements, called Lincoln on the Move. The sales tax revenue also will be used to pave three new streets near Waterford Estates, on West Holdrege in Air Park near the new Northwest High School and along a stretch of Rokeby Road.
There’s more, if you want to take a look at .
Paying off a parking lot
Question from a reader: When will the 1% occupation tax on sales at SouthPointe Pavilions being levied to pay for a new parking garage at the shopping mall end?
First a bit of background: The $19 million, 1,000-stall garage was part of a $103 million expansion of the outdoor mall at 27th Street and Pine Lake Road, which included a new 220,000-square-foot Scheels store that opened in September 2018.
Construction of the garage, which also includes 22,000 square feet of retail space, is being paid for with the tax on most sales at the mall.
The answer: Shoppers will keep paying that tax about 20 more years.
According to city officials, the tax will end no later than Dec. 31, 2041.
So far the city has collected $781,000. City officials said that based on the agreements signed, the city would not be liable for any shortfall.
City crews work to shovel and rake hot mix asphalt into a pothole in 2019. With so little precipitation this winter, Lincoln streets have avoided the usual pothole problem.