Stuthman pitches bridge to supervisors

By Adrian Sanchez asanchez@columbustelegram.com
Thursday, Jan 03, 2008 - 11:39:06 am CST

COLUMBUS -- The Platte River Bridge proposal by State Sen. Arnie Stuthman has yet to reach the surface as described by the senator during a presentation to the Platte County Board of Supervisors Wednesday.

The proposed bridge would be built over the Platte River at a location northwest of Bellwood, landing near the Colfax-Platte county line on the north side of the river.

Stuthman said it would provide a route over the 17-mile wall that separates Columbus from the potential work force and retail shoppers in Butler and Saunders counties.

“It will attract people from David City, Wahoo and Seward for retail shopping,” the state senator said, as well as expand the potential work force to fill the numerous open positions throughout the Columbus community.

Despite repeated efforts by Stuthman to gain any momentum for the proposal, he said the project still has not reached step one ” a feasibility study.

“I haven’t been able to acquire any money yet for a feasibility study,” he said, but he will pursue funding again during the upcoming state legislative session. “Maybe if I continue on with it they will tire of it and give me some cash.”

Acknowledging the state does not currently have funding available for new road work, Stuthman requested the board allocate funding in their 6-year road plan to develop a road in the area of the county line to link with the bridge.

“The ones who are going to benefit from it should help pay for it,” he said.

With the lack of funding for a feasibility study and the price of the bridge alone estimated in the range of $12 million, Chairman John Woerth said the board will support Stuthman’s pursuit of this project although they did not commit any funding to the effort.

With only three more years in the state legislature, Stuthman said the Platte River Bridge is a high priority for him, especially as Columbus continues to develop east.

“I realize it is going to be very hard to get funding,” he said, but “I think it is something that is going to have to happen in the near future.”

In other action, the supervisors:

n approved an application by Torin Products to the Platte County Revolving Loan Fund for $160,000.

n approved the Platte County Sheriff’s request for $44,800 for two cruisers.

n approved a utility application from Duane Kaufmann.

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Bridged
Jan 3, 2008 1:27 PM
Why would the state spend 12 million to help only one interest. Let ADM pay for it. They are the only ones that will benefit from it. Another bridge would only cause more problems with flooding during ice out in the spring and ruin the beauty of our already overdeveloped Platte River.
Lets not waste taxpayer money on another senators "pet project"
TOW
Jan 3, 2008 2:25 PM
Well the city can't handle making a south bypass, so Arnie's bridge will be that bypass.
sandy
Jan 3, 2008 2:27 PM
This may well be a "State Senator's Pet Project" but at least this one makes sense!!! It would help to get a lot of traffic out of Columbus. After all, the truckers hate driving through this town too!!! The only one to benefit from that thing they call a "north bypass" is Walmart!!! But then, I have heard it called the "Walmart Bypass" by alot of town's people!!! How did Walmart get so much influence in this town anyway??
Sparky
Jan 3, 2008 4:13 PM
Sandy: The Bypass was discussed for many years, many articles were written by in in the paper. The fact that Wal-mart built where they did was good planning on their part.
STONER
Jan 3, 2008 4:25 PM
Walmart is tyhe cities largest employer. look at the city sales tax the place brings in. It is a no brainer to kiss their a==. This project will never get the support from the powers to be as it is not beneficial for anyone but a few.
Danny
Jan 3, 2008 5:18 PM
To Sandy :: The "BYPASS" corridor was selected and approved many , many months before Walmart bought the corner. Heavens sakes , even you could have tried to buy the land. Or you could have bought the other corner EXCEPT SAPP Bro's paid $100,000 per acre. You had a chance like everyone else but all you do is sit on your rump and complain. Walmart does not own this town....Get a life..
Chicago Mike
Jan 3, 2008 8:08 PM
I think the bridge is a worthy project and should be built. But to make it really worthwhile, link it to the northern bypass, which to me seems to go nowhere and accomplishes little. This would give traffic a better route when coming from 81 north and heading for Lincoln, and vice versa. Good luck to Sen. Stuthman, it will be tough going to find the funds for this project, with the Minneapolis bridge disaster causing great amounts of cash to flow to existing infrastructure. If he's successful, let me be the first to suggest naming the bridge after the good Senator.
FYI
Jan 4, 2008 7:43 AM
WalMart selected their location because of the path of the bypass - not the other way around. The WalMart location was chosen long after the City selected the location of the bypass. Check out the timing of the real estate sales records if you don't believe it.
Get er done
Jan 4, 2008 8:52 AM
"Build it & they will come" .
Danny
Jan 4, 2008 8:57 AM
Right on Sparky and FYI.
To Chicago Mike: I suggest you visit City Hall and look at the mounds of documents concerning the "bypass" BEFORE you make such foolish comments as " seems to go no where and accomplishes little "..
You might discover there were actually 4 choices but the EPA nixed two of them. Those two choices were CONSIDERABLY east of the current connection with Highway 30. The elected officials at the time did the best they could. The citizens owe them a thank you as they built a "bypass" of today and an "arterial" of the future . Their farsightedness avoided a major problem as was just had with 38th street. The elected officials of long ago apparently did not envision the City growing north so there was no extra right-of-way on 38th to allow for widening.
The same group of elected officials who dealt with the "bypass" also had to deal with 38th street and I for one THANK them....
Build it
Jan 4, 2008 9:50 AM
I personally think this is the first common sense idea to be presented around here in a long time. Just the amount of truck traffic this could alleviate from highway 30 would be significant. Every time I drive north from David City I wonder why this wasn't done sooner. If they did this and put a viaduct by ADM this would be much more beneficial than the current city viaduct plan. Come on county supervisors-let's have some vision!
rog g
Jan 4, 2008 11:04 AM
As much as I dispise this word I am going to say it! "Toll Bridge". The problem is that once the bridge is paid for, the blood suckers will find other ways to spend the money. So I propose a Toll bridge with the stipulation that the tolls go only for building a maintanance cost. This money could be held in a seperate trust and could not be touched!
john
Jan 4, 2008 11:41 AM
Why spend the money on studies. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know we need the bridge. It would save a lot of time and gas money for a lot of people coming and going into Columbus for work and shopping from the butler area. It would make Columbus more attracted for the surrounding area to the south. Lets not be stupid about this for the next five years. Makes lot more since then the down town over passes that we don't really need. Build a over pass over the tracks and straight to the bridge makes more since than anything.
Omaha MK
Jan 4, 2008 12:53 PM
Two things would have to happen if you link the bridge with the current bypass. You would either have to angle it so it goes by ADM so that you only build one bridge, or you build two bridges: one over the Loup and one over the Platte. The south bypass that the city is pondering would connect with the north bypass, but it would only cross the Loup river and then head east to meet up with highway 30. And yes it have to be farther south then where Highway 30 meets 81 because of Whitetail Lake. That entire stretch of the south bypass would take a lot of work to reconfigure around the lake/river/current 81/30 intersection.

I actually think Wal-Mart had their site picked out long before the city finally decided. I remember hearing about Super Wal-Mart going up there about 10 years ago (when Dial was still thinking about building an enclosed mall on 48th avenue) and the sign being up just a couple years ago(but no construction started) at the same time the city was still debating over starting the bypass on East 6th Avenue or at the road that goes by Dickie Doodles and heads to ADM(East 41?. This would have been the logical choice to divert truck traffic completely out of Columbus and specifically direct the trucks to ADM. The city ultimately chose E 6th because the south bypass would connect with the north bypass much more easily that further east of town. Wal-Mart simply waited for this decision and the decision of Dial to scrap the enclosed mall for the outdoor mall at its current location before building their SuperCenter.
Chicago Mike
Jan 4, 2008 3:46 PM
Calm down Danny, I'm not criticizing anyone here. Living over 500 miles away I get limited info on these projects. However, I can read a map. Unless what I saw was not accurate, isn't this northern bypass a road that cuts north from Walmart, angles to the west, and hits 81 northwest of town? Is there more to this than that? Wouldn't this only serve traffic from east 30 to north 81 and vice versa? That seems of limited value, unless I'm missing something here. How does it reroute 30 traffic that is staying on 30? I'm a big fan of my home town and love to see it grow and prosper. If you could link the bridge with the bypass, it would increase the odds of the bridge being built, that's all I'm saying. By looking at Google Earth, it looks to me you could go north a few miles west of Bellwood, cross the river, continue to just west of ADM and meet up with 30. As for a south bypass, I didn't even know they were talking about that. As for the arterial of the future, what's that about? I'm not being sarcastic, I am just curious about what's being planned for the future, and it's not practical for me to come to city hall, so help me out. There was no criticism in my last post, and I won't agree that I said anything foolish, but I am at a disadvantage in getting information, whether it be official or just rumor. So please Danny, tell me, in as friendly a way as possible, what the bypass does, because I'd love to find out that it's a well thought out project that benefits Columbus now and well into the future.
past resident of Platte County
Jan 5, 2008 3:32 PM
Progress, why is everyone always against improving, moving forward, bringing in more for the community?? You need to encourage the "future" generations to stay, come back & take part in the community. Don't be backwards in thinking, look toward the future, work together not against each other! "If you build it, they will come."
don
Jan 10, 2008 8:27 PM
Okay, first off, Go Arnie. We need more access from the south. Second, the bypass is no longer a bypass but an arterial. It's not bypassing anything but connecting and creating more bottlenecks in the future by allowing access at way too many places.
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