LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — Nebraskans have been promised a lot when it comes to highways.
But even after decades many of those promises remain unfulfilled.
“Personally, Suzanne and I moved back after Kansas State in 1983, and guess what — the four-lane expansion started that year on the east end of Columbus. And we are still not connected to Fremont by four lanes,” said Governor Jim Pillen during a hearing for the bill on Wednesday.
Funding has been the main roadblock to completing these projects and a new bill is looking to a new method of funding — state bonds — to get things done.
The bill, LB 706, utilizes the Nebraska Highway Capital Improvement Fund, which is funded by a .25% sales tax introduced by the Build Nebraska Act passed in 2011 to fund the bonds.
The bill allows the state to issue up to $450 million in bonds from the fund to expedite projects identified by the Build Nebraska Act with the lion's share of funding going to expressways and highway corridors designated as high-priority projects.
A similar bill was introduced in 2021 but failed to advance. That bill had no dedicated funding source but with a source now identified some groups are choosing not to oppose the bill this time around.
“When we issue bonds, or the state is gonna issue bonds for future payments, we think it's critical we identify a dedicated source of funding for how you will make those payments to avoid any situations where you are reaching into future annual budgets to make payments for work that is already done and then losing sight of the upkeep and maintenance of your existing program,” said Tim Hruza with the Nebraska Chapter of Associated General Contractors, who opposed LB 542 in 2021 but testified in a neutral capacity for LB 706.
At Wednesday’s hearing, no one testified against the bill and the committee only received one letter in opposition.
Supporters said the time to enact this change is now as shifting trends in manufacturing will make Nebraska’s road quality critical to staying competitive.
“As manufacturing moves back from overseas and the supply chains move back from overseas, between agriculture manufacturing and transportation that’s about 30% of our GDP,” said Brian Sloan, the President of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce.
Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.
Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.
