VIDEO: Hawkins Takes On Nebraska's $130M I-80 Expansion
Contractor Hawkins Construction is taking on Nebraska's $130M I-80 expansion, adding a lane in each direction plus a shoulder. Limited closures and use of drone technology aim to ease traffic and ensure efficiency. Project set for completion in 2026.
Fifty years after becoming the first state in the United States to complete its interstate highway system, Nebraska is rebuilding 7.6 mi. of I-80, the only interstate in the midwestern state. Work began on the span between Pleasant Dale and the capital city of Lincoln in the spring.
The $130 million project will pave the existing highway with new concrete and expand the interstate from two to three lanes in each direction, plus a 12-ft. shoulder that will be functional as an additional lane in a temporary configuration.
Photo courtesy of Nebraska DOT
Contractor Hawkins Construction Company of Omaha also will rebuild four bridges — county roads — that pass over I-80; construct temporary crossovers; extend, modify or construct new culverts; remove and replace guardrail; and reconstruct the Highway 103/NW 154th Street interchange and modernize the ramp lengths to accommodate the improvement. But closures of the highway are limited to one direction and for only eight nights for the duration of the project.
"Basically, they'll close the eastbound direction for one night, and they will remove half of two of the structures over the eastbound direction," said Brandon Varilek, District 1 engineer of Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT). "Another night they will close the westbound direction and remove the other halves of the two structures. Then, when it comes time to set the girders over traffic, they'll be able to close them again for one night. Everything else is going to be constructed under traffic, maintaining the existing lanes in each direction."
The limited closures contribute to one of the biggest challenges of the project — expanding the interstate while maintaining two lanes of highway, Varilek said. In Nebraska, I-80 runs from the state border of Wyoming to Omaha, bordering Iowa. The section currently under construction sees about 40,000 vehicles daily. Of that 40,000, about 28 percent are trucks or about 11,000 trucks daily. Currently, any closure for maintenance backs up the interstate for miles, Varilek said.
One of the unique aspects of the project is that the expansion is taking place to the inside, rather than outside. Two new lanes and a 28-ft. paved median with concrete barrier will be constructed within the existing depressed grass median; the lanes of travel in each direction will be separated by a concrete barrier, Varilek said. No acquisition of right-of-way was necessary.
The inside expansion, however, creates a second significant challenge, Varilek said. "Because we are widening that inside and filling in the grassy median, the contractor is really limited on space because you've got two lanes of traffic in each direction. We separate his work by a movable concrete barrier that is to protect the contractor. But there's really limited space when he's working on that inside media."
NDOT has been in the process of rebuilding the interstate for about 10 years, Varilek said. The stretch from Lincoln to Omaha has been expanded to six lanes and NDOT is now working to likewise expand the I-80 to six lanes west to Grand Island in the center of the state.
Photo courtesy of Nebraska DOT
NDOT is hoping the future expansion might be made easier and more efficient by learning from the work currently under way.
"We're going to going to fly the project several times with a drone," Varilek said. "Drone usage is relatively new to Nebraska. We're investigating what's the best use of this technology. A few things that we're considering are posting the footage online to publish and see the progress of the project. We're also looking at potentially using it for first responders to update them on changing access points, because access will change throughout the different phases. And then also verifying quantities, such as earthwork, just to kind of test out the technology and see what the limitations are and what it can be used for. We've got a lot more to build out west, so we can kind of look at the progression with this construction and the phasing and see if the work we've done on this section makes sense, or if we want to make some tweaks. Those are some of the future areas that we think that the drone will kind of help us out."
The project is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2026. CEG
Lori Tobias
Lori Tobias is a journalist of more years than she cares to count, most recently as a staff writer for The Oregonian and previously as a columnist and features writer for the Rocky Mountain News. She is the author of the memoir, Storm Beat - A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast, and the novel Wander, winner of the Nancy Pearl Literary Award in 2017. She has freelanced for numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Denver Post, Alaska Airlines in-flight, Natural Home, Spotlight Germany, Vegetarian Times and the Miami Herald. She is an avid reader, enjoys kayaking, traveling and exploring the Oregon Coast where she lives with her husband Chan and rescue pups, Gus and Lily.
