Road construction season in both Iowa and Nebraska are underway
'We've got a lot of work going on on Highway 75 and 77 on the east side of our state from Lyons to Decatur' said Kevin Domoagalla with the Nebraska DOT
Domogalla added that construction season is well underway in Nebraska. One big project they are heavily focused on is a $70 million lane expansion on Highway 275 all the way to West Point.
'We're doing a four lane, a two plus two, we're expanding Highway 75 to a two-hour expressway. We've got the first segment of it started between Highway 57 and Wisner,' Domogalla said.
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In Sioux City, Sarah Tracy with the Iowa DOT said that projects happening here in Siouxland will primarily be bridge repairs.
'In the Siouxland area, there's a few major road construction projects that people will see on I-29. There's some bridge repairs being made; that is the bridge that goes into Nebraska. The contractor is making good progress on that, and they will switch lanes with the width restriction. That's coming up in the next couple of weeks,' Tracy with the Iowa DOT
On top of the bridge repairs, the one thing that's been on Sioux City residents' minds are the latest update on the Gordon Drive viaduct, Tracy expressed that the wheels are in motion in repairing it, but will to lead some road closures coming soon.
'The slip ramp from Gordon Drive to Lewis Boulevard, that will be closed and that is associated with archeological work that needs to be done for the Gordon Drive by that project. Definitely steps are moving forward to get to the point where we're replacing the drive viaduct,' Tracy said.
Both Tracy and Domogalla said the projects will not cause any detour.
'Detours? No, intermittent lane closures though. So, just drivers be aware that there will be lane closures associated with these projects,' Tracy said.
'Our goal is to not have to detour traffic. We try to do it under traffic, so that does not inconvenience people quite so much,' said Domogalla.
And with projects underway, Domogalla wants to remind folks to not be distracted when driving through a construction zone.
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'Whenever you're in a construction zone, put your phone down, focus on the act of driving, and keep an eye out for people, keep an eye out for equipment,' Domogalla said.
The Gordon Drive viaduct slip ramp closure will begin a little after the Fourth of July, and the Highway 275 lane expansion is scheduled to finish in 2029.
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Boston Globe
02-08-2025
- Boston Globe
After a slew of car crashes, Fairhaven residents worry about highway going through town
'I didn't even see it coming,' Smith said. 'All it takes is a little bit of crossing over the line to hit a car and cause a chain reaction.' Though Smith made it out without injuries, that isn't always the case. Over the Fourth of July weekend, two people died and one person was seriously injured in three separate car crashes on Route 6 in the Fairhaven area, prompting residents to renew conversations about the highway's safety. Independent and government experts say the highway is prone to crashes, due to an outdated design that doesn't take into account pedestrians' and cyclists' needs, while encouraging poor driving behavior. For years, advocates have been warning government officials about the lack of left-turn lanes, the placement of utility poles, and speeding. In the past five years, there have been 607 logged crashes on Route 6 in Fairhaven, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's crash data portal. Just across the bridge, New Bedford has had 920 reported crashes. Advertisement On July 3, Advertisement 'It's terrifying,' Smith said. 'The road is not designed to encourage people to drive safely, because it's a big straightaway. People will go as fast as they can.' In Fairhaven, cars bustle through a four-lane highway that's next to shopping centers, restaurants, and homes. In front of a school, some sections of the road don't have sidewalks, stoking parents' anxiety. Houses' driveways back out into the highway. Since there are no crosswalks, pedestrians' eyes dart back and forth quickly before they cross the road. Route 6 has been a 'crash problem for a long time,' said Jacqueline Jones, assistant director of transportation planning at the Southeastern Regional Planning & Economic Development District. Route 6 is home to 23 of 100 of southeastern Massachusetts' most dangerous intersections, according to the agency. Jones attributed 'the crash problem' to the highway's 'outdated design.' Route 6 was originally constructed in 1926 to bring travelers from Provincetown to Brewster, New York. But in 1974, a new highway, Interstate-195, that ran parallel to Route 6 and performed much of similar functions was completed. Now, Route 6 no longer serves as a highway. But those who live and work along the road say it still feels like one instead of a main boulevard. '(Route 6) was designed long before pedestrian and bicycle needs were taken into any consideration,' Jones said. 'It doesn't meet any standards or what people need from it.' Advertisement While some stretches of Route 6 wind through forested areas with few pedestrians or businesses, the section cutting through Fairhaven receives a lot of activity. Peter Furth, a professor at Northeastern University who studies traffic issues, called Fairhaven's part of the highway the 'deadliest kind of highway.' 'Roads can have a lot of functions. But the function of carrying through traffic is incompatible with the function of access to shops and access to schools,' he said. Though there are speed limit signs that denote 35 miles per hour, SRPEDD and residents say they often see drivers going faster than that. Resident Nate Bekemeier, who has lived in Fairhaven for 45 years, said nowadays, he observes a lot more 'anger' from drivers, and hopes to see more police monitoring the road. 'We have more and more cars, more and more angry drivers, more and more distracted drivers,' he said. 'If you don't have people obeying the law and driving at a reasonable speed, you can have these problems.' While individuals make their own driving choices, Furth emphasized that road design influences how fast they go, Furth said. Roads need to be 'self-enforcing,' he said. He suggested cutting Route 6 to one lane per direction, as opposed to the current two. 'When you have one lane per direction, you cannot pass the car in front of you. When you have two lanes per direction, nothing inhibits you,' he said. In an email, Representative Mark Sylvia, who represents Fairhaven, said he has received 'multiple concerns' about Route 6, noting that 'traffic, speed, and safety continue to be a challenging issue.' He is speaking with MassDOT officials, local businesses, and constituents to work on improving the road. According to Sylvia, MassDOT is working on a utility pole relocation and replacement project in Fairhaven. Advertisement 'We must do everything we can to prevent future accidents and enhance pedestrian and driver safety,' he wrote in an email. 'Safety, not only in this area but across the Commonwealth, is a core value of every decision we make at MassDOT … Our engineers, planners, and frontline crews put the well‑being of the public first,' wrote MassDOT in an email. Residents in Fairhaven and surrounding areas are rallying around the issue. Days after the Fourth of July crash, Fairhaven resident Will Gardner founded a working group with The road should prioritize the safety of kids, elders, and community members, not cars, he said. 'We want to start with the values that we want this roadway to reflect,' Gardner said. 'If Route Six didn't exist right now, we would never put a highway through a town like Fairhaven,' said Miles Grant, a member of the group. The Fourth of July crashes leave loved ones grappling with tragedy. On July 4, Raphaela Cristeli, 16, was crossing the highway near the New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge, when a car going 'well over the speed limit' struck her, said her best friend Isla Clarke, who witnessed the crash. Cristeli was rushed to a New Bedford hospital, where doctors tried to stop internal bleeding in her stomach and swelling in her brain. Weeks after the crash, she has yet to regain consciousness, but Clarke remains hopeful. Clarke made a Advertisement 'She's the least deserving person of this,' Clarke said. 'She's always there for everybody.' A day after Cristeli's crash, a The recent crashes hit close to home for Debbie Letendre, 68. The crash on July 5 was within a mile of where her son John Letendre Jr. died over 10 years ago. He got into a motorcycle accident on Route 6 on an 'unusually warm' November day, she said. A pole placed too close to the road was leaning inwards, knocking John Letendre Jr. and his best friend Steven Viera off the motorcycle and costing them their lives, Letendre said. On a 'curvy road' that receives heavier traffic, Letendre worries about a lack of breakdown lanes. 'You cannot recover from any loss of control,' Letendre said. She remembers her son as an easy-going, laid-back guy who loved to talk. He loved his family, and his family loved him deeply, Letendre said. Though Letendre has spent most of her life in Fairhaven, she moved to North Carolina to be with her grandchildren last year — hoping to 'fill that hole in my heart.' 'I am not the same person, nor will I ever be anywhere close,' Letendre said. Letendre let out a heavy sigh, feeling 'heartbroken for anyone who has to continue to go through this.' Advertisement 'Every time (a crash) happens, you lose a little bit of yourself, because you put yourself in that family's place,' Letendre said. 'These accidents should not happen.' Jessica Ma can be reached at
Chicago Tribune
26-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Letters: Chicago should rethink NASCAR possibilities
There is something that is not quite right about doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. This brings to mind the NASCAR race on Chicago's lakefront streets for the past three years. Since the city of Chicago and NASCAR agree there will be no race in 2026, that gives everyone a chance to take a deep breath and start thinking outside the box or, in this case, outside the makeshift road course that doesn't seem to make anybody happy. How about a NASCAR Festival at Navy Pier or even at McCormick Place? Think Chicago Auto Show but for NASCAR devotees and all kinds of car geeks. Giant screens showing historic NASCAR races and highlights. Cars, drivers, pit crews, vendors, entertainers and even sponsors could be showcased over a couple of days along our magnificent lakefront. Navy Pier has tons of space outdoors and inside. McCormick Place already has a blueprint for showcasing cars and trucks, plus all the neat car stuff you can imagine. If the whole purpose of what transpired in Chicago over the past three years was to build the NASCAR brand and get Chicagoans to fall in love with everything NASCAR, while bringing revenue to the city, then think what a festival could do. More people could possibly attend. Chicago's weather would be much less of a factor. There could be ample opportunities to let folks actually touch the cars and listen to, or talk to, those who are devoted to everything NASCAR. The people on both sides who are responsible for what will happen here in 2027 have ample time to figure out the actual opportunities and costs without shutting down a single learning that NASCAR decided not to return to Chicago in 2026, my first reaction was: 'Yeah!' My second reaction was: Thanks for returning Grant Park back to Chicago. My third reaction was: Now let's return the Taste of Chicago to Grant Park in July, when it is supposed to be, and let's return it to at least a full-week schedule and with more activities, like it used to be, and not the measly, reduced-size, three-day weekend as is scheduled this year. And also, let's return the Fourth of July fireworks to the Grant Park lakefront instead of the out-of-the-way, hard-to-get-to, overcrowded Navy their July 23 op-ed ('How do we help America's national parks? Make global visitors pay more'), Tate Watkins and Sharon Suiwen Zou advocate making international visitors to our national parks pay higher admission fees. They embrace the administration's 'America First' policy under the pretense of generating more revenue to 'sustain our most treasured public lands for visitors of all types' — you know, those foreign types! This is the same administration cutting national parks staff, looking to open up parks for private development and starting global tariff wars (with many countries that have been America's biggest source of tourism). How do you think that's going to play out? Want to visit the Eiffel Tower, the Vatican or Tower of London? Oh, you're an American? You have to pay more. America's 85 million acres of national parks are places where everyone is welcome to experience the natural beauty of the United States. Raising fees for global visitors would drive more tourism away than add any meaningful funding for the park system. Throughout our history, presidents, Congress and leaders of industry have protected and invested with pride in keeping national parks pristine and accessible. They didn't scheme to make a land grab for mining minerals, drilling for oil or building condos. This isn't about budgetary constraints or political correctness. It's a foreign policy message. Let's not hide behind 'America First' and wind up 'America Last.'Thank you for the article regarding Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church ('Will Pope Leo XIV forge greater LGBTQ+ inclusion?' July 20). Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been a keystone of LGBTQ+ inclusivity for decades. I remember 40 years ago turning to the church after an egregious life event and was welcomed by one of the deacons there, who not only was empathetic but also invited me and my partner to the rectory and his own home. I will never forget this kindness and the empathy extended to us! Thank you so much for highlighting this wonderful community you for the 'Sundae school' article in the Wednesday Food & Health section. My wife and I went that day to the Karak Cafe on Ogden Avenue in Lisle to congratulate them on their being highlighted in the article and try the Dubai chocolate sundae that was featured. The very friendly and gracious family there was unaware of your front-page section article but was pleased that we let them know about it. Also, the Dubai chocolate sundae is not on the cafe's posted menu, but fortunately, it is available upon did I sit on a bus bench recently for over an hour, contemplating the dire future of our planet that is heating up at an alarming rate? I'll tell you why: because no bus came, neither a city bus nor a free bus, while a thousand cars and trucks trundled by or stopped to idle noisily at a red light before continuing on. Four other people joined my vigil, each staring at their phone, naturally. Every person I asked about a possible arrival time for the bus had a different version: five minutes, 12 minutes, 14 minutes, etc. Finally, a fifth soul came along whose phone told her that the bus was 'canceled.' I don't mind that I simply walked back home without completing my little shopping trip. I do mind that we should be cutting down on traffic, thereby helping prevent dangerous air pollution. We encourage people to take public transportation to help save our planet. But who wants to take buses and trains that can't be relied upon? And can we blame people for taking their cars knowing they can make three or four stops in an hour and still be home by lunchtime? Future public transportation is going to have to be some kind of wonderful if we have any hopes of reducing the number of cars and trucks on the streets of our cities.
Axios
18-07-2025
- Axios
NASCAR says it's "pausing" Chicago Street Race
NASCAR announced Friday that it will pause the Chicago Street Race. Why it matters: The three-year experiment to bring a major racing event to downtown Chicago streets on the Fourth of July weekend yielded mixed results amid adverse weather conditions, a less established fan base, and residents' complaints about noise and street closures. Driving the news: A statement from NASCAR says the Chicago Street Race will "pause in 2026 to allow NASCAR to be responsive to residents' and elected officials' feedback." "We will continue to work together toward a new potential date and develop a plan to further optimize operational efficiencies with the goal of the event's return in 2027," the statement went on to say. Flashback: Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot negotiated the city's three-year contract with NASCAR in 2022, and some believed Mayor Brandon Johnson would end it when he took office in 2023. Yes, but: There was well-earned speculation that after this month's race, when the contract expired, Johnson would pull out. By the numbers: Last year's event generated $128 million in economic impact, according to Choose Chicago and the Chicago Sports Commission. The race attracted just over 53,000 spectators. In recent years, the city says, it spent an estimated $3.5 million on road work, staffing and police. This year, the state kicked in $5 million from its general operating fund to help offset the city's expenses. NASCAR paid the Chicago Park District $2 million for the race. What they're saying: "It's disappointing that negotiators haven't been able to move this event off the July 4th weekend — especially given how NASCAR has provided Chicago the opportunity to shine on the world stage," Ald. Bill Conway said in a statement.
