The Department of Transportation of Nebraska (NDOT) in the USA will host a pre-bid meeting for the development of USD 300 million Lincoln South Beltway project on October 17, 2019. The meeting is set to offer a general overview of the road project and to provide an opportunity for the question and answers about it. 

The purpose of the Lincoln South Beltway is to improve east-west connectivity for regional and interstate travel through Nebraska and to reduce conflicts between local and through traffic, including heavy truck traffic, in Lincoln. The project is needed to address increased travel demand on Lincoln’s transportation network, conflicts between local and regional trips along Nebraska Highway through Lincoln, and challenges associated with heavy truck traffic through Lincoln.

The proposed Lincoln South Beltway project would construct a new 11-mile east-west freeway south of the City of Lincoln, located between US-77 on the west and N-2 on the east, and generally located 0.5 miles south of Saltillo Road. The new freeway would include the following elements: four travel lanes (two in each direction), inside and outside shoulders, a depressed median, and five grade-separated interchanges, including freeway connections with US-77 and N-2 and local road connections at S. 27th, S. 68th, and S. 82nd Streets.

The proposed project would require the acquisition of additional property rights, which could include new right-of-way and permanent and/or temporary easements. The property acquisitions would generally occur in areas where corridor protection was filed after the project was first approved in 2002.

The Lincoln South Beltway is one of the largest transportation undertakings for the State of Nebraska at an estimated cost of USD 300 million. USD 25 million of the funds will come from the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant that the project received in 2018. The remaining funding will come primarily from state funds from the Build Nebraska Act, with local contributions from the City.

Construction of the project is scheduled to begin as early as spring of 2020 and could take up to 7 years to complete.