OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — A project years in the making, the Lincoln South Beltway is officially open and Hawkins Construction Company based in Omaha took the lead.
"For the last 15 years we have been coming up with a plan, relationships, workforce, to be able to tackle something like this," Luke Ridder, the project manager said.
The beltway is 11 miles long and connects Highway 2 near 134th street to Highway 77 near Saltillo road.
"There's no stop signs. There's no traffic lights. It's a beltway. The trucks are able to move freely," Ridder said.
The whole goal is to take truck traffic off Highway 2 and move it outside of Lincoln to the south.
Ridder said this one project could have been a bunch of separate projects over the next 10-plus years. But, "The whole benefit of the job, to get the traffic outside of Lincoln doesn't come true until the whole thing is completed."
Ridder said it was decided that it would be one big project and it was scheduled aggressively on a three-year timeline.
"Years of planning allowed us to complete it in under three years," Ridder said.
He said for it to be successful it was all about the team they had.
"Everybody brought their team and everybody had the goal of, let's get this thing open before the winter of this year. Get traffic on it and deliver it to the people of Nebraska," Ridder said.
The project started in May of 2020, 3 News Now Reporter Molly Hudson asked Ridder what he faced while working during the peak of the pandemic.
"Supply chain issues were a major issue on the job, I will tell you for bringing workforce to the job. The Nebraska people stepped up for that and we had a very talented workforce for this job," Ridder said.
With all hands on deck, the project was finished five months ahead of their three-year scheduled plan and moves heavy traffic off Highway 2.
"Getting that outside of Lincoln will really benefit Lincoln for years to come," Ridder said.
RELATED: State now expected to complete long-delayed expressway system in 2036
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