Waiting for an Exit to an Entrance

Waiting for an exit to and entrance

A family of four is driving west-bound on Interstate 80 about four miles from the Kearney exit and the children in the car notice a big, red and long structure that goes from one side of the ditch to the other. Well that structure is the Great Platte River Road Archway. Filled with history and great details about the area past times. But the family decides to keep driving because they don’t see an exit from the interstate to get to the archway’s parking lot.

This is one of the biggest problems the Great Platte River Road Archway is facing to get customers through their doors and experience what they have to offer. Without an exit to directly take traffic on the interstate going west straight to the archway, not many are going to take the extra time it takes to drive into Kearney and venture their way to the wheres-abouts of getting there.

Kearney officials have now been informed that ground could soon begin to change to bring this wanted outcome to reality after waiting for several years. A possible time of estimation is in the year of 2012. But as prices keep rising and the money saved to be used in this project, actions might have to come earlier than expected. Many projects within the Kearney community have been delayed because the money was to be saved for this particular project, but yet no ground has been broke.

All that is being waited on now is the environmental assessments. That is that the state has to come to a consensus with the Federal Highway Commission to make sure that all the detail and plans are squared away before actual ground is to be broke. The Federal Highway Commission has to look at every aspect when considering this project even wildlife and wetland habitats.

The goal right now is to get the environmental assessments done by the end of 2010. Once this is completed ground can then be broken and the future of the Great Platte River Road Archway exit will soon to be seen. The project can be expected to be complete anywhere from six months to a year from then. The project is taking its steps and this is what the community and by-passing travelers on the interstate have been waiting for, for quite a while.

Hopefully, when the project is all finished and that family of four is once again west-bound on Interstate 80 and the children in the car ask if they can stop and see the Great Platte River Road Archway, mom and dad will agree to, now that an exit off of Interstate 80 takes them straight to the archway entrance.

http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/local/article_91b1f162-1fe0-11df-8931-001cc4c03286.html