A coalition of business advocates and county officials is hoping to convince state officials to fund the East Beltway.
Lancaster County Engineer Pam Dingman said last week she’s worried the state’s new Department of Roads director doesn’t see the East Beltway as a priority.
“The new director did express reservations about funding it,†she said.
The beltway would connect the yet-to-be-constructed South Beltway and Nebraska 2 with Interstate 80 near Waverly. It has no timeline, but design work likely wouldn’t begin until after work starts on the South Beltway.
Kyle Schneweis, the state’s roads director, didn’t include the East Beltway on a list of priority projects to be constructed through 2022 as part of the 2011 Build Nebraska Act, which diverts a quarter cent of the state’s sales tax revenue to roads.
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He said the beltway could be added to future Build Nebraska Act priority lists. He rejected the idea that state officials don’t see the beltway as important to Lincoln and surrounding communities.
“I think it’s an important project for the region,†he said. “We’re committed to working with the city and county, and it could be part of Build Nebraska.â€
State officials will host a public meeting from 5-7 p.m. Thursday at the Strategic Air and Space Museum near Ashland to get opinions about future priority projects. The series of meetings across the state began last week.
Schneweis said the East Beltway also could potentially draw from the “infrastructure banks†that Gov. Pete Ricketts has proposed for funding highway construction and repairing structurally deficient bridges.
“There are a lot of needs out there,†Schneweis said. “This is another one that people want.â€
Dingman said she plans to ask the Lancaster County Board for additional funding to pay for acquisition of right-of-way in the future East Beltway corridor. She said a recent purchase of land east of 120th Street and Pine Lake Road depleted the nearly $100,000 the county had set aside for land acquisition.
By comparison, the city puts aside $250,000 a year to buy land in the East Beltway corridor and has accumulated $3 million for that purpose.
With 13 miles of East Beltway corridor, Dingman estimated the city and county will have to spend nearly $9 million to buy property along the route. The city and county each pay half the cost of buying land for the beltway project.
She said she plans to ask the County Board to aggressively set aside money in a fund for land acquisition.
“This fund needs to have at least $1 million in it so that if the need to purchase major sections of right-of-way comes up we could afford to purchase them now,†she said.
While the East Beltway doesn’t yet have a price tag, Dingman estimated it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars and require financial support from the state and federal government.
Dingman said she plans to work with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and Lincoln Independent Business Association to convince state officials to make the East Beltway a priority.
LIBA CEO Coby Mach said he plans to meet with state roads officials soon to talk about the importance of the East Beltway to the local business community and to improving the safety and efficiency of Lincoln’s transportation system.
“It’s incumbent upon us as a community to reach out to the Department of Roads,†he said. “The entire community needs to let them know how important this is.â€