Boosters appeal for 'Super 2'

McCOOK, Nebraska -- A united group of McCook citizens gathered Friday in the Prairie View Room at Community Hospital to appeal to the Nebraska Department of Roads to upgrade U.S. Highway 83 between McCook and North Platte.

Tired of waiting for Nebraska Department of Roads action, the McCook group challenged the state highway engineers and associates to move the McCook-to-North Platte stretch of U.S. 83 to the top of Nebraska's highway to-do list.

"We've been put on the back burner for too long," a crowd member said. "It's time the western section of the state gets its fair share of the highway dollars."

To speed the improvement process along, the McCook group urged the Department of Roads' traveling meeting team to start the McCook-to-North Platte improvement by ordering a "Super 2" type of highway project.

As defined by the Nebraska Department of Roads, a Super 2 is a two-lane highway that has wider paved shoulders and passing lanes every five miles, or as needed based on the specific conditions of the highway.

The McCookites opted for the Super 2 -- instead of a 4-lane divided highway -- because the 4-lane costs considerably more and it is unlikely that level of funding would be granted for the U.S. 83 corridor.

Two of McCook's former mayors, Linda Taylor and Dennis Berry, have been pushing for U.S. 83 improvements for years, but have been thwarted as the Department of Roads has by-passed funding for roads in rural areas while concentrating funding in the more populated Omaha and Lincoln areas.

By going the Super 2 funding route, the McCook contingent is hoping that later -- when funding and traffic counts justify it -- the state can upgrade U.S. 83 to 4-lane status.

The big problem with the McCook-to-North Platte 83 segment -- according to the McCook group -- is that there are so many hills and valleys, slowing down motorists who must contend with large, slow-moving trucks and combine crews. With intermittent passing lanes, that problem would be greatly relieved.

McCookites also asked for a bump-out on the highway east of Hugh Butler Lake, saying space was needed for highway travelers to pull to the side of the road to view the Bison herd pastured on the ranchland owned and managed by Darrell Meister and Randy Woitaszewski.

Also at the highway meeting, Dennis Berry and Jeff Tidyman, a McCook engineer, made pitches for Super 2 highway improvements for U.S. Highway 83 south of McCook, between here and Oberlin, and U.S. Highways 6 & 34 between McCook and Indianola.

Following the meeting, the executive director of the McCook Economic Development Corp., Kirk Dixon, declared, "It makes me proud of our community to hear from guests that McCook people stands out compared to other open forum meetings across the state."

According to the facilitators, McCook rolls out the welcome wagon in true neighborly fashion with great organization, a professional meeting facility, good food, and a room of concerned citizens aligned and unified in their priorities. This is true "community hospitality," something the officials reported they did not experience so completely in other feedback forums across the state.

Dixon extended his thanks to two McCookites who have stood strong as highway improvement advocates through the years. Those advocates are Linda Taylor, who has pushed the Highway 83 corridor project consistently for the past two decades, and Greg Wolford, who has been a champion on the road engineering front, as well as a proponent of targeting highways for improvement that will improve economic development across the state.

"Here in Southwest Nebraska," Dixon said to quote Wolford, "we have been extremely patient waiting for our turn, but now is the time for us to earnestly press for some attention and a share of the roads infrastructure investment."