Old Highway 8 residents want paved connection to highway

Dodge County supervisors faced a pair of road issues when they met Wednesday morning.

More than a dozen residents who live on Old Highway 8 on the east side of U.S. Highway 275 east of Fremont expressed concerns that their access to the bypass would be diminished soon.

Nebraska Department of Roads staff have said that a temporary access intersection connecting U.S. 275 and Old Highway 8 east of the bypass would be closed when a new interchange at Morningside Road is completed.

When that access is cut off, those residents will have access to the bypass at the new Morningside Road interchange by way of a still-being-constructed upgrade of a county road that runs parallel to the east side of the bypass. Morningside Road is about one mile north of Old Highway 8.

Currently, Dodge County road crews are working to lay a new bed of white rock on top of County Road 25 that has rarely been used in recent years, Dodge County highway superintendent Alan Doll told supervisors and the residents who attended the meeting.

The Dodge County Road Department is responsible for upgrading the southern three-fourths of a mile of that access road, Doll said, while the Department of Roads will upgrade the northern one-quarter of a mile because the current intersection of the county road with Morningside Road will have to be shifted east to make room for interchange access.

Residents at the meeting complained that they didn't want to have their traffic route diminished from an asphalt road to a gravel road.

But Doll said that in order for asphalt to be laid correctly the bed of rock and dirt needs time to settle, especially with a new culvert that was put in. Doll said he would feel more comfortable with the process if the rock and dirt had at least one year to settle before asphalt is laid on it.

But the residents speaking out without identifying themselves said anything less than asphalt is not acceptable to them.

An eight-inch asphalt coat would cost about $310,000, Doll said, adding that there is another, less expensive option.

A product called Armor Coat can be laid in a double layer for about $40,000, he said. The process for the Armor Coat includes spaying an oil-like layer over a dirt and rock bed. Over time - about three months - the oil, dirt and rock harden into an almost asphalt-like surface.

“The problem with that is that I don't know what kind of truck traffic we will have on that,” he said. “That could raise problems.”

Some residents said large trucks regularly haul grain and sod along Old Highway 8.

But residents at the meeting didn't like the Armor Coat concept and asked when they could expect the road to be hard surfaced.

“There is no timeframe,” said Dodge County Board chairman Bob Missel. “We're just talking about it today.”

Doll pointed out anything the road department would do has to be placed in the budget, which is currently developed for the fiscal year.

Any decision to close the Old Highway 8 direct access to U.S. 275 is up to DOR staff, but Supervisor Paul Marsh offered to ask DOR officials to keep the access open after the Morningside Road interchange is complete until a hard surface can be laid on County Road 25. However, the supervisor said he doesn't anticipate that DOR staff will do anything other than what they've already decided to do.

Also, supervisors were asked by Fremont city officials to help extend East 32nd Street from Yager Road to Luther Road.

The city's proposal would have the city and county sharing the cost of the road construction with a developer sharing the cost with them from Yager Road to Laverna Street. City administrator Bob Hartwig and Fremont Department of Public Works director Clark Boschult addressed the supervisors.

“We are looking for some help with this,” Hartwig said, adding Roger Pannier owns 80 acres in that area that he wants to develop into residential housing with homes that are less expensive than the upscale homes being build on Fremont's east side.

“The advantage is increased valuation for both the city and the county,” Hartwig said.

Boschult said the utility work along the strip of land still needs to be done, which makes it nearly impossible that the road would be paved this year.

A letter from Boschult addressed to Doll states “estimated paving costs” for three segments of the project: Yager Road to Lincoln Avenue, just more than $442,000; Lincoln Avenue to Laverna Street, nearly $605,000; Laverna Street to Luther Road, just more than $715,000.

“I would like to see more numbers,” said Supervisor Lon Strand, “and maybe a better breakdown of the cost sharing.”

Marsh said they need to think about this more.

“We don't have the funding for all this,” he said. “We've been going on a pay-as-you-go basis, which is fine if you don't get ahead of what you can pay.”

With bills still coming in on the Military Avenue interchange, which was completed late last year, Marsh said they may still owe as much as $300,000.

Doll said the county also still has to pay for two federal aid bridges that will take about $150,000 out of the current fiscal year's budget and even more next year.

Marsh also pointed out they were just addressed by angry residents who wanted a better road than what's being given to them.

“We've talked about issuing bonds more than once,” he said. “That may be the way to go now.”

In another matter, supervisors approved the appointment of Patti Emanuel-Vaughan as the new executive director of the Fremont and Dodge County Convention and Visitors Bureau.