De Facto Beltway
By: Mr. Wilson on
May 19, 2006
Now, aren’t the city leaders of Lincoln proud? They have made a bypass on the eastern edge of the city! Of course it goes through residential areas, past 11 churches, schools, has stoplights, is crossed by bike paths, school crossings and pedestrian crossings. And they call it the Truck Route. This is 84th Street, not bypass, not truck route. What is going to happen when one of the speeding trucks or cars does not get stopped at the lights? Lincoln has always been 25 years behind and I guess will continue to be since they still allow people to buy up properties that they should have held years ago for a real bypass for this city. They continue to let people build everywhere but have no routes to move traffic from one side of the city to the other, around it or over it safely. Look at what Omaha has for moving traffic! Where has Lincoln been? When visitors talk about the driving conditions in Lincoln, it makes me ashamed of an otherwise beautiful and friendly city. We have lacked leaders who can see into the future and plan for it.It's true, 84th Street is the de facto east beltway. The street is wide, traffic flows reasonably well, and it's straight as an arrow from north to south. In fact, that's one reason why Lincoln has been able to avoid an east beltway for so long: it is harder to justify an expensive, controversial solution when there hasn't been much of a problem to solve. Ms. Bryceson's conclusion is a bit off the mark, though. Lincoln's leaders have been able to see into the future clearly. The catch is that they simply made different decisions based on their vision than leaders of other cities made. For example, Omaha plowed I-480 right through the middle of a residential area; Lincoln routed I-80 far to the north precisely because the city didn't want a freeway near its neighborhoods. Where one city saw the importance of traffic flow, the other saw the importance of protecting neighborhood continuity. Lincoln feared sprawl and the destruction of Downtown. Indeed, looking at similar cities around the country, it seems their fears were justified. Other communities feared inefficient traffic flow and stifled economic development opportunities. Plenty of folks can argue pretty convincingly that that's what Lincoln has seen over the years. Interestingly, Lincoln seems to be changing course. The Antelope Valley project and the south and east beltway projects, along with the move to bump Highway 77 to freeway status, are all symptoms of a new acceptance of the importance of traffic flow around the city. Which begs two questions: 1) Is it too late? 2) Other than the Antelope Valley project, what about intracity traffic flow?
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Good historical perspective!
I like what they’re doing with Highway 77, although it defies logic why the Dept. of Roads would insist on building overpasses identical to the confusing traffic patterns at the Van Dorn/Hiway 2 overpass on 77. I also don’t see value in keeping the Pioneer Blvd. intersection open yet closing the one at Old Cheney. Should be the other way around or close both of them.
I don’t think it’s too late for improved traffic flow, although it’s probably too late for 27th or 48th streets to improve, which is too bad. No easy way to go from north to south.
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