Construction on North 14th Street

About a mile south of our house is a big bridge that goes over Interstate 80.  In September 2011, much of 14th street was closed so that a new bridge could be built.

14th Street bridge over passing semi on I-80

Dump trucks are adding to the back-fill on the bridge approaches.

Just a few blocks south of the bridge is the intersection of 14th and Superior.  This intersection has had difficulty handling the large volume of traffic, so a decision was made by city planners to make a two-lane round-a-bout.  There is a school on one corner of the intersection, so the round-a-bout will have tunnels for both N-S crossings and E-W crossings.  In other words, this is a major project.  This intersection currently has no N-S traffic and very limited E-W traffic.  I have no pictures of this intersection.  It currently has no walking traffic and it would be nearly life-threatening to try and snap a picture while driving.

As of early this month, 14th street is now closed north of the bridge to Humphrey (roughly our back door).

This used to be 14th street.

Rusty surveys the bulldozer's work.

Water drainage issues will be addressed by the building of a large culvert under 14th Street.  Here the workers are laying forms for the base of the culvert.

I took this picture from our deck.

After the workers go home for the day, we often walk down for a closer look.

As of today, the base of the culvert has been poured and the forms are being built for the walls.  It's fascinating to watch.  I sure wish Uncle Oren were here; he'd have fun talking to us about the details of the project.

The next picture was taken north of our house on what is our only access to Lincoln (although very indirect) on the yet-undisturbed part of 14th street.  At the base of the hill, you can see the culvert construction.  At the top of the hill, you can see large trucks working on the bridge.  If you're a Lincolnite, you should be able to pick out the capitol building.

By fall, this should be a 4-lane road with a bike trail running adjacent to it.

I had to try the movie function on my new iPad.  Next time I'll try standing still.

Right now it's all a big mess and terribly inconvenient.  We have to drive a mile north, then a mile either east or west, then back a mile south in order to begin our trip to the nearest commerce.  However, the new bike trail will provide a safe and easy way for us to ride into town.  That's something to look forward to!

Nearly two weeks later, we are now seeing the culvert really take shape.  The three support walls have all been formed and poured.  The wing walls and apron are finished.  Now the workers are beginning to lay forms so the "lid" can be poured.

I'm anxious to see what kind of supports will be built to support a cement lid.

 Stay tuned for more updates.