Road project delays irk senators

LINCOLN — State senators complained loudly today about how federal red tape is holding up road-building projects across the state.

An official from the Nebraska Roads Department said the state deserves part of the blame for inadequate oversight of local projects that use federal funds.

But Monty Fredrickson, the department director, told two committees of Nebraska lawmakers that adjusting to new interpretations of old federal environmental review requirements also has delayed some projects by a year or more.

State Sen. Galen Hadley of Kearney said it was “sad” that bureaucratic wrangling between the feds and the state is holding up already-funded projects, such as a second Interstate 80 interchange in his community.

“We could be putting people to work in Nebraska with that money,” Hadley said. “It’s sad that somehow we’ve got federal agencies that somehow make that impossible.”

Fredrickson said that although the working relationship with the federal government is improving “a little,” he couldn’t predict when the needed environmental impact statements for the Kearney project would be approved.

“It’s in their hands,” he said.

The comments came during the Roads Department’s annual briefing on the status of funding for highway construction projects in Nebraska. The briefing was given this morning to the Legislature’s Appropriations and Transportation Committees, which deal most intimately with road-building issues.

As in past years, Fredrickson told lawmakers that the state, like many others, faces a dilemma: Funding for road maintenance and construction is not keeping pace with needs.

Current funding, about $300 million a year, is barely enough to keep up with road and bridge maintenance needs, he said. That leaves many road-widening and improvement needs, including completion of the state expressway system, without funds, Fredrickson said.

The Transportation Committee recently held a series of hearings across the state to discuss new ways to raise funds for road-building. The committee chairwoman, Sen. Deb Fischer, said many people expressed a willingness to accept higher taxes and fees to keep state roads in good shape.

Several senators questioned what happened to the $20 million in extra money the Legislature approved two years ago to complete the Kearney interchange and the Heartland Expressway in the Panhandle, and to begin an expressway linking Norfolk and South Sioux City.

Fredrickson attributed the delay in part to heightened scrutiny of environmental impact statements.

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402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com