A roundabout.

The Transportation Department will unveil its plans at a public meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the public library in Waterloo.

The Transportation Department will unveil its plans at a public meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the public library in Waterloo.

Waterloo Fire Chief Travis Harlow has witnessed more carnage than he cares to remember at the crossroads, with cars exiting from both the westbound extension of the West Dodge Expressway (referred to west of Elkhorn as Link-28B) and southbound from U.S. 275 near the lakeside community of West Lake Shores.

They don’t always slow down enough before reaching the intersection.

“It’s high speed,” Harlow said. “When you’ve got vehicles crossing in all directions, you’re going to have an accident.”

It used to be that only east-west (West Dodge Road) traffic stopped at the intersection, which led to destructive T-bone crashes.

Last year, the Transportation Department added stop signs on the north-south road. That’s helped — a little.

“The accident rate has gone down,” Gerbino-Bevins said. “But we still have trouble with people running the stop signs.”

Harlow said that during rush hour, traffic backs up onto the freeway and creates a whole new traffic hazard.

“It gets pretty busy,” he said.

Gerbino-Bevins said the roundabout will slow down traffic without stopping it and make the intersection less dangerous.

“When we plunk down a roundabout, it reduces (accidents) by about 75%,” she said. “And it certainly reduces the severity of the accidents, by far.”

Harlow had heard about the plan through a public notice from the Transportation Department. He likes the idea, after seeing the impact of adding a roundabout at the intersection of Nebraska Highways 36 (Pawnee Road) and 31 (204th Street) west of Bennington.

“It’s effective. That used to be a bad intersection as well,” Harlow said. “I haven’t heard of any bad accidents since they put it in.”

Thursday’s meeting will be an open house, with displays on the future roundabout and details about the plans. The Transportation Department expects to begin work in summer 2026 and wrap up the following winter.

Although there is still work to complete on this project, work has been suspended for the winter and will resume next spring.

Over the final few weeks of 2024, troopers will be on patrol across Nebraska working to keep holiday travel safe.

“The holidays come with all sorts of celebrations, many involving alcohol,” said Col. John Bolduc, superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol. “It’s critical to always drive sober, for your own safety and the safety of everyone else on the road.”

The Nebraska State Patrol is teaming up with police agencies across the country in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign. The York Police Department and York County Sheriff’s Office are both participating in the effort, which began on Dec. 11 and continues through Jan. 1.

In 2024, troopers have made 1,339 arrests for driving under the influence. That represents a 14 percent increase over the number of DUI arrests in 2023.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 4,700 lives were lost in drunk-driving crashes in the month of December from 2018 to 2022. During that same period, Nebraska troopers averaged 91 impaired driving arrests in the month of December.

“This year, let’s work together on Nebraska roads to make sure this holiday season is remembered for time with family and friends and not for a tragedy on the road,” Bolduc said. “If any of your gatherings involve alcohol, plan ahead to have a sober driver.”

The Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over initiative is made possible thanks in part to a grant for $42,886 from the Nebraska Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office.