Proposed Elevated Roundabout hits a road block

Posted By: Pierce Georlett

pgeorlett@klkntv.com

At 14th and old Cheney where the city of Lincoln is proposing to build an elevated roundabout to improve traffic flow.

But the Mayor and the City Council disagree about how to spend some of the city’s budget.

On Thursday Morning Mayor Beutler called for the City Council to remove their proposed delay on the road project on 14th and Old Cheney.

"That delay proposal is costly it’s short cited and it will not prepare Lincoln for future growth," says Mayor Beutler. 

For some of the City Council members funding a $30 million elevated roundabout just isn’t in the current budget. 

"We’re talking about delaying 14th and warlock elevated roundabout project mainly because it’s very very expensive and it’s completely funded with city tax dollars with no matching dollars for the state or the federal government," said Roy Christensen a Lincoln City Council member. 

The fear Mayor Beutler expressed is that any type of delay will just add to the final cost of this huge project.

"If the proposal is successful it would add another 8 million dollars in cost to the project the recommendation also appears to be based on information that does not exist," added Mayor Beutler." 

But Roy Christensen believes that spending the money now on this big project does not help the future of the city’s roads.

"We can push off the 14th and Warlock project four or five years without any real harm to our city or our city budget. But I think that if we don’t take car of the here and now first, we’re gonna be worst trouble 4 or 5 years down the line," said Christensen.

Beutler also added in a press conference Thursday morning that more than 40,000 vehicles travel through the intersection every day, and by 2045, that number will increase to more than 65,000 cars per day.

Which is not what that intersection was built for, and that the city needs to expand on this project.

"We have already invested in this project and that investment stems from solid planning and technical justification for the project we feel strongly, this is a promise two decades in the making that we’ve made to the community," said Miki Esposito the Director of Public Works and Utilities. 

This elevated roundabout is planned to begin in the year 2020.