Highways offer important plus for community

Shortly after the turn of the century, McCook is achieving a highway construction milestone matched by very few cities in America. What is the distinction? It's the fact that between 1995 and 2005, the vast majority of the highways through town have been, or will be, newly constructed. This is a rare occurrence, according to Kurt Vosburg, the District 7 construction engineer for the Nebraska Department of Roads. Most cities will have some new construction, but the difference in McCook's case is the extent of the improvements. First, starting in 1995, came the improvement of U.S. Highway 83 from West B Street to the northern edge of McCook. That project alone cost $5.5 million. Then, in 2000, work began on the western end of B Street, the route which carries U.S. Highway 6-34 traffic through McCook. That project, which extended from West 11th to past West Fourth, added another $2.7 million to the in-town construction total.

This was followed by this year's construction, which spans the heart of the city -- from between West Third and Fourth to East Fourth street. When combined with work to be done next spring -- from East Fourth to East Seventh -- that will bring the cost for the latest improvement project to $3.2 million. All told -- from 1995 through the spring of 2004 -- that adds up to highway improvements of $11.4 million. And we're not done yet. Still to come -- with bid-letting scheduled in the fall of 2004 -- is rebuilding of the section of U.S. Highway 6-34 between East Seventh and the city's eastern limits. If that project comes in at above $3 million, total spending for highway construction in McCook in a ten-year span will approach $15 million. When the work on U.S. Highway 83 South, done in the 1980s, is added, McCook will have one of most up-to-date in-town highway systems in the state, if not the nation.

In most cases, the work has been done without federal help. "The city has played a big part in the improvements," Vosburg said, pointing out that most of the projects were done on an 80-20 cost split between the state and the city. The large amount of highway construction is not the only mark of distinction for McCook. The other noteworthy thing has been the outstanding cooperation between the highway builders, the people of McCook and the traveling public. "Paulsen, Inc. has been very cooperative, working with business people to get alleys, driveways and intersections open as quickly as possible," Vosburg said. And, for their part, drivers have taken the highway work in stride,waiting patiently at the Norris and B stop light and driving carefully around the temporarily graveled intersections.

For one thing, the drivers are used to delays during a near-decade of construction. But the eventual, overall impact will be of major importance for the community, upgrading through-town routes to smooth, solid and substantial standards not achieved in many other towns.