Paving the way to the future

What do you get when you start with several hundred truckloads of Platte Valley gravel; add dozens of loads of crushed limestone; mix in generous helpings of cement and fly ash; and mold into place over a seven-month period?

An all-new through-town highway, that's what!

The latest stretch of B Street paving -- reaching all the way from West Fourth to East Fourth streets in McCook -- opened to traffic this week after new traffic lights were switched on at the East First, West First and Norris Avenue intersections.

A little more work is left to do -- including curbwork and small retaining walls -- but otherwise the paving, sidewalks, storm sewers, water mains and electrical connections are all-new in the middle eight blocks of U.S. Highways 6, 34 and 83 through McCook.

It's an important and impressive stretch of paving because the mid-town section handles between 11,000 and 12,000 vehicles per day. Still not impressed? Then let the district construction engineer, Kurt Vosburg, put the traffic count in perspective for you. "That's more traffic per day than uses Interstate 80 in the Nebraska Panhandle," he said.

Constructed at a cost of $3.2 million, the new highway in the heart of McCook is 57 feet wide and nine inches deep. Referred to by the roads department as a "47-B Concrete Mix," the huge slab of highway paving rests on a four-inch base of crushed concrete.

Throughout the seven-month project -- starting in March and continuing into November -- Vosburg has been commenting on the helpful attitude of McCook merchants; the traveling public; and the general contractor, Paulsen, Inc. "Everywhere I go someone walks up to me and says, 'Great job. The B Street work is looking good. The finished product will make the inconvenience worth the wait.'"

It's a level of cooperative which is rare, especially in larger cities, Vosburg said. While the middle part of the project is nearly complete, there is much more to be done. The highway contractor is now at work on the South Highway 83 overpass, replacing broken concrete. And, next spring, work will resume on B Street from East Fourth to East Seventh streets.

The final phase of the B Street work -- from East Seventh to the east city limits -- will be let in the latter part of 2004, with the work being done in the spring and summer of 2005.

That will conclude one of the most thorough highway construction programs for any community in America. Between 1994, when work began on North Highway 83, and 2005, when work will be finished on U.S. 6-34 in east McCook, all the in-town highway paving will have been replaced.

That puts the community in good stead for the future, as the previous paving -- which replaced the B Street bricks -- lasted for more than 30 years.