The decades-long project to link all of Nebraska's major cities with Interstate 80 through a 600-mile expressway system is not projected to be finished until at least 2042, the director of Nebraska's Department of Transportation told a committee of state lawmakers Wednesday.

Set into motion by a 1988 law and initially envisioned to take 25 years to build, the four-lane expressway system will instead take more than 50 years to complete under the department's current funding trends, Director Vicki

Kramer said at a hearing in front of the Legislature's Appropriations and Transportation committees. Kramer had told lawmakers as recently as last year that the expressway's final corridors — including expansions of U.S. 81 between York and Columbus, U.S. 77 between Fremont and Wahoo and U.S. 75 between Nebraska City and Murray — could be finished by the mid-2030s.

But at Wednesday's meeting, where Kramer briefed lawmakers on the state's latest Highway Needs Assessment, she said prior projections did not take funding into account, warping lawmakers' expectations for when the projects would come to fruition.

This year, Kramer emphasized the growing gap between the Department of Transportation's needs and the funds allocated to the fulfill them.

In 2025, the department needs $844 million to preserve, modernize and improve the state's highways — but has only $700 million to invest in such projects, leaving a $144 million shortfall, Kramer said.

The department projects it will need $16.9 billion to maintain and improve Nebraska's highways over the next 20 years, a sum that is expected to amount to $24.3 billion in 2045 dollars due to inflation.

The growing cost of maintaining Nebraska's highways — and the Department of Transportation's shrinking buying power — are projected to further slow the completion of the expressway system, more than 400 miles of which is already completed.

The planned expansion of a 41-mile stretch of U.S. 81 between York and Columbus is the last portion of the expressway set to be finished, according to Wednesday's assessment. That expansion is expected to begin in 2032 and last a decade.

One project tied to the 1988 expressway plan is being accelerated, though, Kramer said. The 28-mile expansion of U.S. 275 between Norfolk and West Point — a portion of a larger project to connect Norfolk to Omaha via a four-lane highway — had been projected to take until 2033.

But Kramer told lawmakers Wednesday that Gov. Jim Pillen directed the department to condense the timeline for that project and complete it by 2029.

Transportation officials are set to use at least $100 million in bond financing to pay the accelerated project, subject to a final vote Friday by the Nebraska Highway Commission. Kramer said the move to issue bonds to fund the project marks a "fundamental shift" for the state, which has followed a pay-as-you-go approach for decades.

Kramer was careful Wednesday to avoid "the perception that financing is funding," noting that the state must pay off the bonds by June 30, 2042.

She also didn't explicitly ask lawmakers to increase the department's annual budget, though she told the committee that she wanted lawmakers to "be very aware of the gap" between the department's needs and resources.

"I don't think it's my job to tell them if I need more money, it's my job to show them what I can do with the amount of money that they are giving me," Kramer said after Wednesday's hearing.

Still, Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus, the chairman of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, said an increase in Department of Transportation funding "is something I think we need to talk about" when lawmakers convene for a 90-day legislative session in January.

As they enter Nebraska's next two-year budget cycle, lawmakers are already facing a $432 million shortfall, a fact that Moser acknowledged "may affect additional funding" for the department. But, he said, the state has to respond to inflation rates hampering highway construction.

"We have to continue to keep up our roads," he said. "We need to continue working on the expressway. And we can't let ourselves fall even further behind."

While Kramer did not ask lawmakers for more funding for her agency, she did ask for their "commitment on safety" in her closing remarks to the joint committees Wednesday, hinting that "improving the safety of our roadways" would be the department's top legislative priority in 2025.

In remarks to reporters afterward, Kramer declined to detail what such legislation might be forthcoming but noted that "cell phones are an issue" on state roads.

Nebraska is one of three states where texting while driving is not a "primary offense," meaning law enforcement can't stop motorists merely for texting while driving on state roads.

Sen. Loren Lippincott of Central City introduced a bill this year to make texting while driving a primary offense, but the proposal drew scrutiny from lawmakers who questioned how authorities could determine — and, later, prove in court — whether a driver was texting while operating their car. The bill (LB1033) stalled in the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee this year.

Kramer said states that have implemented texting bans typically wish they would have banned the use of handheld devices while driving altogether.

"We've taken the legislation and looked at it and said, 'OK, what's the most enforceable?'" she said, adding that transportation officials are also seeking new ways to slow drivers down and get them to wear their seat belts.

"We are the 49th state in term of seat belt rate," Kramer said. "Forty-nine. And we know that if you wear a seat belt, you're 45% more likely to survive that crash. Why wouldn't you just put your damn seat belt on?"

Look out, Darth Blader! Some Omaha-area snowplows are Up to Snow Good.

Both the Omaha Public Works Department and the Nebraska Department of Transportation announced winners this week in separate contests to give names to trucks in their snowplow fleets.

The puns flew like snowflakes in a Nebraska blizzard.

In Omaha, residents selected two names from a list of six nominations submitted by the city’s snowplow drivers.

The winners: “Darth Blader” and “Scoop Dog.”

The names that missed out included “Go Big Sled,” “Drifter Lifter,” “Salty Dog” and “Catch My Drift.”

The naming was part of a reward to the city’s plow operators who won an event in the Snow Plow Roadeo, which tested drivers’ skills in navigating around realistic obstacles. The online contest ran from Nov. 20 until Wednesday.

The Transportation Department has run its own recent contest to name snowplows in each of its eight districts. The entries are submitted by schoolchildren, and five finalists in each district are selected by the department’s communications staff. Officials in each district select two winners.

District 2 (which consists of Douglas, Dodge, Sarpy, Washington and eastern Cass Counties) named three winners because of a tie in the voting. The winning names are “Han Snowlo,” “Up to Snow Good” and “Aspiradora de Nieve,” which is Spanish for “Snow Vacuum Cleaner,” said Ryley Egger, a transportation spokesman.

A snowplow from the Transportation Department visited Meadows and Blumfield, the two elementary schools that submitted the three winning entries, giving students a chance for a close-up look at one of the big trucks.

VAS signs are new safety devices implemented by NDOT to help drivers adjust their behavior for rapidly changing roadway conditions, such as adverse weather, reduced visibility or traffic congestion.

By implementing VAS signs, NDOT aims to inform drivers to adapt their speeds proactively, reducing the likelihood of high-speed crashes and their associated risks, such as fatalities, serious injuries and traffic congestion.

VAS signs also help lessen the chances of secondary crashes by preparing drivers for slower traffic ahead.

NDOT will continuously monitor conditions and determine when reduced speeds should be displayed.

During testing, the VAS signs will display the current enforceable speed limit. Once testing is complete, signs will be turned off until reduced speeds are advised. Speeds displayed by VAS signs are advisory, and drivers are encouraged to adhere to the reduced speed to improve safety on the interstate.

VAS signs are expected to be implemented along I-80 from the Wyoming border to the Overton interstate exit 248 by Dec. 31.

A video about Variable Advisory Speed Signs from NDOT is available at ndot.info/VASsigns.

The goal of the campaign was to focus on seat belt violations throughout York County during the Thanksgiving holiday season.

Deputies also made several arrests, including:

--1 felony arrest

--2 DUI alcohol arrests

--1 DUI drug arrest

--1 fugitive from justice apprehended

Seat belt and child restraint usage was high, the Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies issued only four citations for seat belt and/or child restraint violations. Funding for the traffic enforcement campaign was provided by the Nebraska Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office.