Quicker commute on the horizon

There’s some good news on the horizon for Mills County motorists who travel over the U.S. Highway 34 Missouri River Bridge on a regular basis - the days of waiting for a green light at the U.S. Highway 34/U.S. Highway 75 intersection will soon be over.

Construction of an overpass interchange is moving at a swift pace and the Nebraska Department of Roads is anticipating the opening of Highway 34 entrance and exit ramps to happen by year’s end.

“What’s going to happen when we’re all done is it’s going to be a diamond interchange with on and off ramps. There will be no signals,” NDR project manager Marty Weander said. “We’re building an expressway all the way to the Platte River. There won’t be any more intesections when we’re all done and there won’t be any traffic signals.

“We’ll be using the overpass this year if everything goes right. The entire project is scheduled to be completed in 2019, but we’re looking more like the fall of 2018 as our goal.”

When completed, U.S. Highway 34 will extend to the west past the new overpass and veer to the northwest where it will tie into Platteview Road. Motorists on Highway 75, both northbound and southbound, will use ramps to enter Highway 34 in both directions. As part of the expressway project, traffic signal intersections are being eliminated at Fairview Road and Platteview Road north of the overpass, the intersection with U.S. Highway 34 and at LaPlatte Road to the south.

Weander noted the project actually began in 2010, but was slowed by funding issues and the need to complete the stretch of Highway 34 to the new Missouri River bridge, which opened in October 2014.

The Opinion-Tribune

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