Bob Kerrey, the Democratic nominee for Nebraska’s US Senate seat, said if elected, he would meet with the State Roads Commissioner and county roads departments and work to make sure both sides of the state were able to accomplish road projects.
“I would work it out so that the Heartland Expressway can get built,” he said.
We need a highway bill that will get the Heartland Expressway linked with four-lane freeways to the north and south that are transporting billions of dollars worth of goods through the heart of the nation’s agricultural and energy corridors. But ….. a highway bill with an unrelated provision ….. would fast-track construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline before Nebraska has a chance to approve an environmentally acceptable route through the Sandhills….
The primary election is now less than one week away, and the seven candidates vying for the District 43 State Senate seat have been working to get their messages out to voters before they head to the polls.
Al Davis’ focus is revitalizing this area of the state, encouraging education and enticing youth to return here to live and work as adults.
“I have a lot of concerns about where the region is going, primarily because of the population loss. It’s just devastating in a lot of Sandhills counties. We need to work on reversing the population loss,” Davis said.
Completing the Heartland Expressway through a statewide cooperative effort, value-added niche livestock marketing, tourism and education will all be beneficial to accomplishing that goal, he said.
Federal earmarks provided the foundation for Lincoln’s Antelope Valley development project and have helped fund highway projects, research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Medical Center in Omaha, and community projects like the Center for People in Need in Lincoln and the Northbridge Community Center.
“Reforming earmarks was necessary,” presumptive Democratic Senate nominee Bob Kerrey said. “Ending them has shifted even more power to unelected bureaucrats in the federal government.
“This is unquestionably bad for Nebraska,” Kerry stated.
“Rural states get hit hardest by the earmark ban,” Nelson has said.
“It is erroneous to argue that earmarks increase spending. They only change who decides how to spend part of the budget.”
Congressman Smith: Congress missed a chance to use the transportation bill as an economic stimulus.
Nebraska Congressman Adrian Smith says Congress missed a chance to use the transportation bill as an economic stimulus.
“What we should’ve done to stimulate the economy is passed the transportation bill three or four years ago and hastened these projects out into the economy.”
“We want a long-term solution and the devil’s in the details,” Smith says. “It’s in conference committee now. The Senate passed a version and the House passed a version, so the conference committee will meet, they’ve already met a little bit, but moving forward they’ll hash that out and propose something I hope will be much longer term than even the two years in the Senate bill.”
Angst Building Over State Budget
Lawmakers convene in January to begin crafting a two-year state budget facing a $619 million shortfall. Adding to the task is a new law going into effect next year that earmarks some sales tax money that once went in the state’s general fund for road-building projects.
“Given this situation, it’s hard to see how the Legislature will be able to pass a balanced budget next year without increasing property and other local taxes,” Renee Frysaid.
The roads-funding bill (LB84) paved the way for an estimated $60 million in additional annual roads funding. The bill earmarks 1/4-cent of the 5 1/2-cent state sales tax for roads funding. Collection would start in 2013 and continue 20 years.
And while Heineman signed the bill in 2010, he said he was concerned about whether the state could afford it. Opponents said the $1.3 billion it would direct to roads over 20 years would take away from critical needs of education, human services and public safety.
“Sadly, the governor and senators who supported these proposals have no plan for our financial future except to keep our fingers crossed and hope the fragile economic recovery becomes so robust in the next 8 months that we can fill this hole without deeper cuts to education, human services and public safety,” said Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad, a member of the Appropriations Committee. “Keeping our fingers crossed is not a fiscally responsible plan for our financial future.
Work Begins on Highway 385
Work has begun on the U.S. Highway 385 part that stretches from Chadron north to the South Dakota state line.
The Nebraska Roads Department said the project has started at the state line in the northern Panhandle and will progress south to the intersection with U.S. Highway 20 west of Chadron.
Workers will mill the existing asphalt to remove ruts and channels, lay a new layer of asphalt and upgrade guardrails where needed.
House Passes 90-Day Highway Extension
The House of Representatives voted 266-158 today to easily pass the GOP’s short-term 90-day extension of the highway bill, handing the political hot potato back to the Senate just days before current funding is set to run out.
Highway bill plays role in Nebraska’s ag economy
Nebraska will benefit from a highway bill the U.S. Senate passed on Wednesday by a 74-22 margin, said U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb.
Nelson said the highway bill “paves the way for Nebraska to make major improvements to our roads and bridges, transportation systems and safety programs.”
“That will create jobs, expand economic development and make our state safer for all Nebraskans,” he said. “Furthermore, the Senate’s passage breaks a chain of temporary short-term extensions approved since 2009 that have been necessary to keep federal highway funding and programs going.”
Nelson said he hopes the House will “quickly pass this highway bill, so Nebraskans can start seeing highway improvements this year.”
U.S. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., who was in Aurora on Wednesday as part of his Farm Bill tour, said he is “anxious to see the details because time is of the essence.”
Smith said transportation is “one of the fundamental functions of government.”
He said the bill probably won’t have the dollars that a lot of people would prefer.
“But the fact that a bill gets done can serve our economy well, and I think we will see projects that will be more affordable because of the limited resources out of Washington,” Smith said. “Stretching the dollars further is not a bad thing.”
LB1098 Hearing Brings Host of Supporters and Opponents
The hearing on Council’s bill brought in a host of supporters and opponents.
Council said she had more than 50 emails her office received that opposed LB84. And while they believed there was a need for roads funding, they just didn’t believe it should be taken from sales tax.
Supporters at the hearing, that included representatives of education, child advocates and a rail service proponent, said they were concerned the law gave roads funding priority above all others. Those include investing in education and training programs, and repairing child welfare.
Opponents represented bankers, truckers, chambers of commerce and the Nebraska Highway Commission. They said funding roads was a matter of safety and economic development.
Panhandle Area Development District
Ports to Plains
Theodore Roosevelt Expressway
Western Nebraska Tourism Coalition
