Second Street’s new lanes open for traffic

Smooth ride. Nice. Beautiful. Sexy.

All recent descriptions of the new Second Street paving.

The Nebraska Department of Roads switched traffic late Tuesday so motorists are now driving on the new concrete lanes instead of the old asphalt paving.

The south lanes are virtually done, with added storm inlets, contoured concrete and what will be a center turn lane. The traffic has been ushered to these new lanes while the old paving on the north side of the road now succumbs to the heavy construction equipment.

But as nice as the new roadway is, project manager Scott Griepenstroh said there is one major problem point.

It's the corner of Second and Broadwell.

"I've heard about this and I knew I would," Griepenstroh said.

Southbound Broadwell traffic that wants to turn left onto Second Street has no turning lane.

The lack of a Broadwell turning lane is creating a backup of Broadwell traffic past Third Street.

Griepenstroh said a left turn arrow has been added to give several seconds of left turning before north and south traffic heads into the Second and Broadwell intersection, but it's clearly not the best solution.

There simply isn't enough room in the intersection to create a turning lane for the eastbound traffic and keep construction going.

"If you want to turn left, you can, but you're going to upset a lot of people," Griepenstroh said as he described the traffic backups already occurring.

If drivers can't resolve the challenge themselves by limiting left turns when traffic is heavy, Griepenstroh said the Department of Roads will be forced to resolve the issue itself. That will mean a shutdown of Broadwell between Second and Third.

He's hoping it won't be necessary.

Construction is about three weeks behind, but should be substantially complete by November so that eastbound and westbound traffic can resume driving on Second Street.

But for now, it remains an eastbound-only street. Westbound traffic has been diverted to Third Street and First Street and will remain that way through November.

Griepenstroh said the construction crews have been doing a great job and he's pleased with motorists and property owners, too.

"I appreciate the patience of property owners on the south side," he said.

"I'm thrilled" with the quality of the project, Griepenstroh added.