No Bridge Match Funds For This Year’s
One And Six Year Road Plan

By Gordon HopkinsThe Jefferson County Commissioners met with county engineer Tim Farmer on February 22, to approve the one-and-six-year road plan. The Nebraska Board of Public Roads, Classifications, and Standards requires that the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT), each municipality, and each county within the state develop and file a one-and-six-year plan of highway, road, and street improvements.The plan was previously reviewed at a meeting three weeks ago. Since that time, a new project was added to the six-year plan. Project 433 is a new bridge on 710 Road near the Gage County line. Farmer told commissioners, “Our hydraulics guys did get that sized. And they’re guessing it’ll be a 105 foot bridge. So it’s a substantial project.”The estimated cost of the bridge is $650,000. Commissioner Mark Schoenrock asked, “Is there any other options to that? Does it have to be a bridge?”“It’s going to be a bridge,” said Farmer. However, he noted, “It is on the bridge match list, the county bridge match list. So that’s one that we could potentially get up to $200,000 of funding from the state.”According to the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) webpage, “Rural transportation provides essential mobility and connectivity for many Nebraskans who rely on safe and efficient roads to deliver agricultural, energy, manufactured and other industry goods to market. The current condition of Nebraska’s rural bridges impedes personal and commercial travel that is critical to the safety and prosperity of our citizens. The Transportation Infrastructure Bank Fund creates the County Bridge Match Program which will devote additional funding to pilot innovative solutions to help repair or replace critical bridges on county road systems.”Jefferson County has been very successful in past years in obtaining funding from the bridge match program. Last year, the county received approval for funds to replace two bridges from the program, one near Gladstone at Buckley Creek and the other northeast of the Cub Creek Recreation Area.This year, the county did not receive any bridge match funds.Bridge match is a state-wide program and there is significant competition for the money. One of the criteria the state uses for determining which counties receives funding is called “equity.” In other words, according to Farmer, the very fact that Jefferson County has been so successful in the past likely cost the county this year. However, Farmer said, “This year, the equity rating will go back up. We missed out a year. Our equity score will be higher, giving us a better chance to secure projects.”Legislative Bill (LB) 960, which set the bridge match program into motion, passed in 2016 and authorized the NDOT to partner with local bridge owners to replace structurally deficient bridges. There are concerns the bridge match program may be going away. The concern now is that the program was set to expire in seven years, so 2022 will be the last opportunity for Jefferson County to participate, unless the program is extended by the legislature. Commissioner Schoenrock met with Senators Tom Brandt (District 32) and Senator Myron Dorn (District 30) in September of last year. A number of topics were discussed at that meeting, including the importance of the state’s Bridge Match Program, particularly to counties in the eastern part of Nebraska, which has considerably more bridges that the rest of the state.

3.2.22

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