Get ready for a mega road construction project

If you travel between Cambridge and Holdrege on U.S. 6-34, get ready for one of the longest and largest highway construction projects in this area's history.

In a massive, four-part project starting in mid-February, the Nebraska Department of Roads will spend more than $18.3 million dollars to rebuild 47 miles of highway from Cambridge through Holbrook, Arapahoe, Atlanta and Holdrege.

The extensive 9-month project -- which will take until November to complete -- will be among the first "mega" highway construction programs undertaken by the state highway department.

To make it happen, the highway department combined projects originally planned over a 4-year period: from 2006 through 2009. "The advantage is that it will give the state a much better price on asphalt because of the large volume which will be needed," said Hugh Holak, the construction engineer at the District 7 highway office in McCook.

As a result of bid-lettings, conducted in August and September, the contracts for the 47 miles of paving work have been awarded to Werner Construction of Hastings.

The four phases of the project and the bid prices are: Cambridge to Holbrook, $5.2 million; Holbrook to Nebraska Highway 4 intersection, $7.35 million; Nebraska 46 to Holdrege, $5 million; and in-town Holdrege work, $775,000.

The first part of the project will begin in mid-February when Werner crews start tearing out and replacing the bridge over Deer Creek on the east side of Holbrook. Half of the bridge will be done at a time, with traffic signals used to funnel one-way traffic over the bridge during the project.

The remainder of the Cambridge-to-Holdrege highway work will be launched in early April, with flaggers and pilot cars used to control traffic flow during the daylight construction hours.

For frequent travelers between Cambridge, Holbrook, Arapahoe, Atlanta, Holdrege and towns and cities to the east and west, there will be long waits during 2006 while construction crews do the work on the 47-mile project. It will be a real life test of the highway department's new "mega" approach to road building.

While it could be slow going for the eight months between April and November, travelers will need to remember that once the work is done, it's done. Under the old way of doing there would have been road work delays on U.S. 6-34 over each of the next four years: 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

What's better? A lot of road work all at once, or a little bit spread out over several years. The Cambridge-to-Holbrook "mega" project will help the state highway department and the traveling public determine the better approach.