Paleontologists, roads department work well together

It's an unlikely marriage that has lasted 50 years and counting, and we all benefit.

Time is money when it comes to road construction. Contractors have narrow parameters of time and weather to complete projects, and face monetary penalties if they fail.

Yet, for 50 years, officially, and for 50 years before that, on an unofficial basis, road construction crews have been willing to stop their work and contact state paleontologists whenever an interesting fossil is uncovered in the course of their work.

For fossil hunters, road construction offers an opportunity unlike any other, a free random survey of layers of earth over a wide area.

They've taken full advantage of it over the years.

Since 1960, the Nebraska Department of Roads, University of Nebraska and University of Nebraska State Museum have worked together under the Highway Paleontology Program, backed by federal law and the first of its kind in the United States.

Over the decades, more than 200,000 specimens, including the remains of a camel, rhinoceros, long-jawed elephant, giant land tortoise, large carnivore and sea lizard have been curated into the State Museum's permanent research collection. Several animals new to science have been discovered, including a new species of mouse, Stratimus strobeli, named in honor of former Roads Department director Jerry Strobel for his long-term support of the program.

According to an UNL release, more than 80 projects have produced scientifically significant specimens, with the most noteworthy locality in the Nebraska Panhandle south of Gering.

In 1968, highway realignment through the Wildcat Hills exposed a 20-23 million-year-old river deposit, which paleontologists revisited for the next 30 years until another major project, the Heartland Expressway, uncovered another treasure trove of fossils.

In 1999, they collected about 600 bones, a third of them skulls and jaws, in only six weeks. As scrapers carried 70,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel through excavated portions of the quarry, they recovered sixty different species, including turtles, snakes, birds and mammals.

"After we finished, contractors smoothed up the lanes and were completed in less than 30 minutes," said Shane Tucker, museum paleontologist. "It is hard to fathom the amount of information that would be lost if this program didn't exist."

Not only can scientists from the university and other schools benefit from their work, but we can too.

A special exhibit will open Sept. 29 at Morrill Hall, "Highway Paleontology: Life in the Past Lane," featuring rare specimens, including the remains of a six-foot-tall flightless bird, a 40-foot-long plesiosaur, a lion 25 percent larger than the modern African lion, and a giant land tortoise discovered in 2009. The exhibit will remain on display for a year.

Morrill Hall, south of 14th and Vine streets in Lincoln, is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays.

Admission is $5 for age 19 and over, $3 for children 5-18, 4 and under free, and $10 for families (up to two adults and children).

More information is available at www.museum.unl.edu or www.nebraskatransportation.org/environment/archeo-paleo.htm