Sandhusker
Well-known member
WASHINGTON — A lot of people around Thedford, Neb., are shaking their heads about the big construction project east of town funded with $7 million in federal stimulus cash.
It's one of Nebraska's earliest and largest road projects under the Obama administration's $787 billion economic recovery plan.
Nebraska roads officials say building the U.S. Highway 83 viaduct over BNSF Railway tracks is downright necessary for public safety.
Downright crazy, say those who have encountered the sometimes 20-second wait for a train to pass. They say it isn't as if cars and trucks stack up at the crossing outside the Thomas County village of Thedford, population 168.
“It's a waste of money,” said Carolyn Warren, whose family owns a small trucking operation in Thedford.
About 1,275 vehicles per day rattle over the train tracks in question. That may sound like a lot, but consider that Interstate 80 at 42nd Street in Omaha averaged 165,000 vehicles a day last year.
The Cornhusker Highway viaduct over the train tracks near 70th Street in Lincoln handles about 14,000 vehicles a day, and Omaha's L Street carries about 23,000 a day over tracks near South 28th Street.
Safety is the most frequently cited reason for the viaduct, but the Federal Railroad Administration has no reports of any accidents at the Thedford crossing. The agency's records go back to 1975.
Although Uncle Sam cuts the checks, choosing roads projects for stimulus funding is largely up to state governments.
Officials with the Nebraska Department of Roads defended the decision to direct stimulus money to the Thedford viaduct.
Thedford's tiny population is beside the point, they said. Highway 83 serves as the main route between North Platte and Valentine, and a train derailment or track maintenance could shut down the crossing for an extended period of time, they said. Other north-south routes are at least 25 miles down the road.
The department does not have records of when the Thedford train crossing has been forced to close in the past, but spokeswoman Mary Jo Oie said the railroad plans to shut it down for a while this month for repairs, and that it will be shut down at least every two years for routine maintenance.
Monty Fredrickson, director of the Nebraska Roads Department, said the viaduct was a project that could be started immediately because it enjoyed the support of the local community.
But checks with people in Thedford revealed a great deal of opposition.
Judy Taylor, chairwoman of the Village Board, said that most people in town were against the viaduct.
Janice Hodges, whose family owns the Conoco gas station near the viaduct, said: “We didn't really think we needed it.”
On the other side of the matter, Steve Brown of the Thedford Community Development Group said that he has favored the project because traffic along Highway 83 will only increase.
He said the crossing is used frequently by trucks with oversize loads, such as wind turbines.
“It's just amazing that an accident has not happened there,” Brown said. “It (the viaduct) probably is justified.”
Still, a look at the state's own criteria raises questions. A primary factor used to prioritize Nebraska railroad viaduct projects is the intersection's “exposure,” which is determined by multiplying the daily averages for vehicles on the road and trains on the track.
The Thedford project has an exposure of 102,000. That number comes from the state's average daily traffic count on the highway of 1,275 multiplied by 80 trains a day.
BNSF Railway Co. spokesman Steven Forsberg said that 57 to 69 trains per day have been traveling through that intersection during the first four months of 2009. When told the state was using the higher number in its calculations, Forsberg said that train volume fluctuates with the economy, and that the railroad supports the project for safety reasons.
Even at 102,000, the Thedford project has the second-smallest exposure among the seven viaducts that the state has constructed in the past five years.
Nebraska roads officials said Thedford still has more than twice the 50,000 exposure that the state uses as a minimum threshold for such a viaduct.
“It's a project that qualifies under our rules and regs, and it's a good project. It eliminates a lot of exposure and it provides some tremendous continuity to our highway system,” said Ellis Tompkins, rail and public transportation engineer with the roads department.
State officials also cited the crossing's proximity to the T-intersection where 83 meets Nebraska Highway 2. Northbound traffic on Highway 83 can at times back up onto the train tracks.
But local residents said such backups don't occur frequently. Hodges added that “most people are smart enough, they don't wait on the track.”
Marvin Blauvelt, who lives near the project, scoffed at all the safety talk.
“It was totally unnecessary,” he said of the viaduct. “There's never been an accident on that intersection, ever.”
The project claimed a portion of Blauvelt's property and brought the highway closer to his door, but he said that's not his reason for opposing it.
Asked about the lack of accidents, Oie said there have been car-train crashes at other rail crossings in Thomas County and that “no one has had to lose their life for this system improvement.”
The total cost of the project is expected to be about $9 million. That includes $256,000 from the railroad and about $1.7 million from the state.
A White House press release this summer about Nebraska's spending of stimulus money singled out the Thedford viaduct as the largest stimulus-funded project in the state at that time.
“Our No. 1 priority with the Recovery Act is getting folks back to work — and there is no better way to do that in these early days than by putting shovels in the ground and jump-starting projects like these that create jobs and boost local communities,” Vice President Joe Biden said in the release.
But some Thedford residents said they aren't convinced the project holds the promise of any great economic benefit for the immediate area, even if it has brought some business to the local gas stations and other retail outlets.
Lori Hall and her husband own a drywall company headquartered in Thedford, along with several ranches in the area. She said that given the dire economic situation, federal stimulus money could be used in better ways than a viaduct in the middle of the Sand Hills.
“It's ridiculous — a horrible, horrible way to spend money,” Hall said.
It's one of Nebraska's earliest and largest road projects under the Obama administration's $787 billion economic recovery plan.
Nebraska roads officials say building the U.S. Highway 83 viaduct over BNSF Railway tracks is downright necessary for public safety.
Downright crazy, say those who have encountered the sometimes 20-second wait for a train to pass. They say it isn't as if cars and trucks stack up at the crossing outside the Thomas County village of Thedford, population 168.
“It's a waste of money,” said Carolyn Warren, whose family owns a small trucking operation in Thedford.
About 1,275 vehicles per day rattle over the train tracks in question. That may sound like a lot, but consider that Interstate 80 at 42nd Street in Omaha averaged 165,000 vehicles a day last year.
The Cornhusker Highway viaduct over the train tracks near 70th Street in Lincoln handles about 14,000 vehicles a day, and Omaha's L Street carries about 23,000 a day over tracks near South 28th Street.
Safety is the most frequently cited reason for the viaduct, but the Federal Railroad Administration has no reports of any accidents at the Thedford crossing. The agency's records go back to 1975.
Although Uncle Sam cuts the checks, choosing roads projects for stimulus funding is largely up to state governments.
Officials with the Nebraska Department of Roads defended the decision to direct stimulus money to the Thedford viaduct.
Thedford's tiny population is beside the point, they said. Highway 83 serves as the main route between North Platte and Valentine, and a train derailment or track maintenance could shut down the crossing for an extended period of time, they said. Other north-south routes are at least 25 miles down the road.
The department does not have records of when the Thedford train crossing has been forced to close in the past, but spokeswoman Mary Jo Oie said the railroad plans to shut it down for a while this month for repairs, and that it will be shut down at least every two years for routine maintenance.
Monty Fredrickson, director of the Nebraska Roads Department, said the viaduct was a project that could be started immediately because it enjoyed the support of the local community.
But checks with people in Thedford revealed a great deal of opposition.
Judy Taylor, chairwoman of the Village Board, said that most people in town were against the viaduct.
Janice Hodges, whose family owns the Conoco gas station near the viaduct, said: “We didn't really think we needed it.”
On the other side of the matter, Steve Brown of the Thedford Community Development Group said that he has favored the project because traffic along Highway 83 will only increase.
He said the crossing is used frequently by trucks with oversize loads, such as wind turbines.
“It's just amazing that an accident has not happened there,” Brown said. “It (the viaduct) probably is justified.”
Still, a look at the state's own criteria raises questions. A primary factor used to prioritize Nebraska railroad viaduct projects is the intersection's “exposure,” which is determined by multiplying the daily averages for vehicles on the road and trains on the track.
The Thedford project has an exposure of 102,000. That number comes from the state's average daily traffic count on the highway of 1,275 multiplied by 80 trains a day.
BNSF Railway Co. spokesman Steven Forsberg said that 57 to 69 trains per day have been traveling through that intersection during the first four months of 2009. When told the state was using the higher number in its calculations, Forsberg said that train volume fluctuates with the economy, and that the railroad supports the project for safety reasons.
Even at 102,000, the Thedford project has the second-smallest exposure among the seven viaducts that the state has constructed in the past five years.
Nebraska roads officials said Thedford still has more than twice the 50,000 exposure that the state uses as a minimum threshold for such a viaduct.
“It's a project that qualifies under our rules and regs, and it's a good project. It eliminates a lot of exposure and it provides some tremendous continuity to our highway system,” said Ellis Tompkins, rail and public transportation engineer with the roads department.
State officials also cited the crossing's proximity to the T-intersection where 83 meets Nebraska Highway 2. Northbound traffic on Highway 83 can at times back up onto the train tracks.
But local residents said such backups don't occur frequently. Hodges added that “most people are smart enough, they don't wait on the track.”
Marvin Blauvelt, who lives near the project, scoffed at all the safety talk.
“It was totally unnecessary,” he said of the viaduct. “There's never been an accident on that intersection, ever.”
The project claimed a portion of Blauvelt's property and brought the highway closer to his door, but he said that's not his reason for opposing it.
Asked about the lack of accidents, Oie said there have been car-train crashes at other rail crossings in Thomas County and that “no one has had to lose their life for this system improvement.”
The total cost of the project is expected to be about $9 million. That includes $256,000 from the railroad and about $1.7 million from the state.
A White House press release this summer about Nebraska's spending of stimulus money singled out the Thedford viaduct as the largest stimulus-funded project in the state at that time.
“Our No. 1 priority with the Recovery Act is getting folks back to work — and there is no better way to do that in these early days than by putting shovels in the ground and jump-starting projects like these that create jobs and boost local communities,” Vice President Joe Biden said in the release.
But some Thedford residents said they aren't convinced the project holds the promise of any great economic benefit for the immediate area, even if it has brought some business to the local gas stations and other retail outlets.
Lori Hall and her husband own a drywall company headquartered in Thedford, along with several ranches in the area. She said that given the dire economic situation, federal stimulus money could be used in better ways than a viaduct in the middle of the Sand Hills.
“It's ridiculous — a horrible, horrible way to spend money,” Hall said.