Lancaster County Engineer Opens County Bridge

(KFOR NEWS October 8, 2021) The Lancaster County Engineer’s Office will be opening County Bridge F-88 located on North 14th between Waverly Road and Mill Road after completing a bridge replacement. The roadway will be open at 4pm today (Friday 10/8).

This bridge has had a lengthy permitting process because it is located over an area known to have inhabited the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle. (Fun Fact: The Tiger Beetle is one of the world’s rarest insects and is listed as an endangered species. It is known to occur only in Lancaster and Saunders Counties in Nebraska.)

Since extra precautions needed to be taken due to the Tiger Beetle, we had to coordinate with multiple state and federal agencies to obtain the correct permitting for constructing this bridge. In
addition, we needed to acquire extra land which was federally owned, so we had to coordinate with several different federal entities to acquire enough ground to build the bridge. As a result, the entire permitting process for this bridge took a little over 4 years.

Once all the permitting were acquired, the undersized 80’ x 26’ steel girder bridge built in 1959 was removed and replaced it with a new 125’ x 42’ 3 span continuous concrete slab bridge. The new structure features concrete approach slabs on a 20-degree skew which fits in with the natural topography. The bridge was designed by Speece Lewis Engineers and constructed by JJK Construction. This project also included 1,025 feet of roadway grading and asphalt replacement, designed by the Lancaster County Engineering Department. A drop structure was also added to prevent the bottom of the creek from getting deeper and wider (erosion). It was built in partnership with the City of Lincoln and Natural Resources District (NRD). The final estimated cost is approximately $1,689,106.00.

Engineer Dingman stated, “Lancaster County currently has 10 closed bridges and 23 bridges that need to be replaced. As County Engineer, I will continue to fight for additional funding for new pavement and bridges, which I believe is of great importance to those who live and work in our rural communities.”

The Lancaster County Engineer’s website has a complete listing of roads currently closed in Lancaster County. For more information, please visit the website at ttps://www.lancaster.ne.gov/207/County-Engineer or call 402-441-7681.