The road ahead of metro Omaha’s transportation system is an expensive one: $7.4 billion.
But the new road map is meant to chart the course for the Omaha of the future — one with 1.3 million people who are expected to increasingly use driverless cars, share the road with autonomous semis, hop Omaha’s growing bus rapid transit system or even take a streetcar.
Omaha is not going the way of the Jetsons, with automated aerial vehicles.
No, Omaha still loves its automobiles. And the new long-term travel improvement proposal would put significant attention — and funding — into streets and freeways.
But this is still the conceptual portion of the study, with no details decided yet on specific projects, costs, priorities or funding.
Notably, the study looking out to 2040 would rebuild the Interstate through the metro area. It would widen Interstates 80, 480 and 680 — a difficult prospect for a highway that’s all but maxed out.
But alongside that, transportation planners say Omaha needs a significant expansion of its public transit system. The report, an effort by the Nebraska Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, proposes to focus 40 percent of the costs on transit.
“We’re at the point — let’s look to the future and see what our needs are going to be,” said Tim Weander, Omaha’s district engineer with the State Transportation Department.
The study promises to be a landmark one for Omaha.
The last similar study was completed in 1985 and led to the reconstruction of Omaha’s Interstate system over the next two decades. Since the modern freeway debuted, work has addressed individual bottlenecks and repairs.
The goal, according to the report, is to set a new “systemwide vision to guide improvements in the decades to come.”
But in some respects, the future of Omaha’s transportation system is outside Omaha and the State of Nebraska’s hands.
With Omaha’s place along the countrywide freight-mover that is Interstate 80, the city will experience the rise of autonomous, long-haul semi trucks, said Rebecca Ryan, a futurist and economist from Next Generation Consulting who has worked with the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce to develop its new 2040 goals.
Ryan said she expects capitalism to decide how and when those trucks are implemented, because sensor-driven trucks will simply be more efficient and profitable for corporations than human-driven semis.
“I feel like the market is going to decide for you,” she said.
She said that’s the biggest argument for expanding Omaha’s concrete infrastructure. “I-80 will change because of it.”
For now, the transportation report only generally outlines a package of projects. As part of the last stage of the study, officials are refining details, costs and timing on the proposed projects. This year, they plan to take the proposals public.
The leading ideas include:
» Widening the Interstate almost throughout. An idea under consideration is to divide each side of the Interstate into two parts: one set of outside lanes that has access to local interchanges, as the freeway exists now, and an inner set of lanes that runs uninhibited through the city, without that local access, said Greg Youell, MAPA’s executive director.
It’s a concept being implemented in Iowa’s reconstruction of Interstate 80 through Council Bluffs.
» Establishing an Interstate interchange around 180th to 192nd Street in Sarpy County near Vala’s Pumpkin Patch, then widening a north-south route to four lanes to connect with that new interchange.
» Widening major streets such as West Maple Road, South 72nd and 84th Streets, and Dodge Street between 72nd and 84th.
Omaha also has decisions to make about its mass transit system.
Omaha is not going the way of the Jetsons, with automated aerial vehicles.
No, Omaha still loves its automobiles. And the new long-term travel improvement proposal would put significant attention — and funding — into streets and freeways.
But this is still the conceptual portion of the study, with no details decided yet on specific projects, costs, priorities or funding.
Notably, the study looking out to 2040 would rebuild the Interstate through the metro area. It would widen Interstates 80, 480 and 680 — a difficult prospect for a highway that’s all but maxed out.
But alongside that, transportation planners say Omaha needs a significant expansion of its public transit system. The report, an effort by the Nebraska Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, proposes to focus 40 percent of the costs on transit.
“We’re at the point — let’s look to the future and see what our needs are going to be,” said Tim Weander, Omaha’s district engineer with the State Transportation Department.
The study promises to be a landmark one for Omaha.
The last similar study was completed in 1985 and led to the reconstruction of Omaha’s Interstate system over the next two decades. Since the modern freeway debuted, work has addressed individual bottlenecks and repairs.
The goal, according to the report, is to set a new “systemwide vision to guide improvements in the decades to come.”
But in some respects, the future of Omaha’s transportation system is outside Omaha and the State of Nebraska’s hands.
With Omaha’s place along the countrywide freight-mover that is Interstate 80, the city will experience the rise of autonomous, long-haul semi trucks, said Rebecca Ryan, a futurist and economist from Next Generation Consulting who has worked with the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce to develop its new 2040 goals.
Ryan said she expects capitalism to decide how and when those trucks are implemented, because sensor-driven trucks will simply be more efficient and profitable for corporations than human-driven semis.
“I feel like the market is going to decide for you,” she said.
She said that’s the biggest argument for expanding Omaha’s concrete infrastructure. “I-80 will change because of it.”
For now, the transportation report only generally outlines a package of projects. As part of the last stage of the study, officials are refining details, costs and timing on the proposed projects. This year, they plan to take the proposals public.
The leading ideas include:
» Widening the Interstate almost throughout. An idea under consideration is to divide each side of the Interstate into two parts: one set of outside lanes that has access to local interchanges, as the freeway exists now, and an inner set of lanes that runs uninhibited through the city, without that local access, said Greg Youell, MAPA’s executive director.
It’s a concept being implemented in Iowa’s reconstruction of Interstate 80 through Council Bluffs.
» Establishing an Interstate interchange around 180th to 192nd Street in Sarpy County near Vala’s Pumpkin Patch, then widening a north-south route to four lanes to connect with that new interchange.
» Widening major streets such as West Maple Road, South 72nd and 84th Streets, and Dodge Street between 72nd and 84th.
Omaha also has decisions to make about its mass transit system.
The report proposes spending almost $3 billion over time on Omaha’s transit system. Some of that funding exists already in operations and maintenance costs, but the area also will need some $1.1 billion for new capital costs, the report estimates, as it builds projects including new feeder lines into the Dodge Street bus rapid transit system and a midtown Omaha streetcar.
Ryan said those are important features that Omaha needs to build up as it competes for economic development and talent. It’s a major feature, for instance, that Amazon is seeking as it locates its second headquarters. (More than 230 cities, including Omaha, have submitted bids for the $5 billion project.)
“You’re going to get skipped for the big next-generation opportunity,” Ryan said, “if you don’t have that mass transportation that is an alternative to owning your own vehicle.”
Perhaps the biggest unsettled matter is how to pay for the projects. The gap between what’s available now and what’s needed in the future is some $4 billion, considering inflation. And that will test the transportation funding that the area receives from the federal government, the State of Nebraska and local cities and counties.
But Weander said the goal is first to establish consensus behind a plan — a process that he calls exciting.
Youell, from MAPA, said he hopes that the study leads to a significant conversation ahead.
“What do we want to do? There are more needs than we can currently fund. ... What are our priorities, and where do we go from here?”
Ryan said those are important features that Omaha needs to build up as it competes for economic development and talent. It’s a major feature, for instance, that Amazon is seeking as it locates its second headquarters. (More than 230 cities, including Omaha, have submitted bids for the $5 billion project.)
“You’re going to get skipped for the big next-generation opportunity,” Ryan said, “if you don’t have that mass transportation that is an alternative to owning your own vehicle.”
Perhaps the biggest unsettled matter is how to pay for the projects. The gap between what’s available now and what’s needed in the future is some $4 billion, considering inflation. And that will test the transportation funding that the area receives from the federal government, the State of Nebraska and local cities and counties.
But Weander said the goal is first to establish consensus behind a plan — a process that he calls exciting.
Youell, from MAPA, said he hopes that the study leads to a significant conversation ahead.
“What do we want to do? There are more needs than we can currently fund. ... What are our priorities, and where do we go from here?”
