U.S. Highway 30 (U.S. 30) stretches more than 3,100 miles from Astoria, Oregon, to Atlantic City, New Jersey. In central Nebraska, the highway passes through Grand Island, where a major realignment project is underway.
The Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) and Werner Construction are relocating a section of U.S. 30 that runs through Grand Island. The roadway opened to traffic in November 2025, with full project completion anticipated in June 2026.
Grand Island's population has been steadily growing, reaching over 53,000 in 2025. The project has been on the books for some time, but city growth has made it a greater priority. Other local cities accessible via U.S. 30, including Kearney, Nebraska, have also experienced population growth.
On the section of U.S. 30 that is being realigned, the average daily traffic was 8,700 in 2024. The section is adjacent to Union Pacific Railroad tracks.
"There are queuing issues along the intersections on U.S. 30, and traffic backs up onto the railroad tracks," NDOT District 4 Construction Engineer Eric Klein said.
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Another issue is that some traffic rides the highway for a short distance. The entry and exit of vehicles slow traffic and pose a potential safety hazard. Note that this section of U.S. 30 is two lanes.
According to NDOT, project improvements include “constructing a four-lane expressway with a 40-foot depressed median in the rural portion of the project (west of the Monitor Road intersection to Engleman Road) and a 30-foot raised median in the urban portion (Engleman Road to Claude Road). Additional work includes realigning North Road and Stolley Park Road to align perpendicular to the new ... U.S. 30 alignment. The team is realigning a portion of Monitor Road to accommodate the new U.S. 30 alignment.”
Werner Construction Project Manager Todd Allen noted that the 4-mile section of U.S. 30 will be the third iteration of the highway.
"The second iteration of the highway realigned routes through town, while the current one takes U.S. 30 through an area that was fields,” he said. “The area is less congested and safer, and the space means we can widen the route to four lanes."
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The city of Grand Island will use the current section of U.S. 30 as a city street once the new section is operational.
In the project area that went through farmland, there were few utilities to move. However, on the eastern end of the project around the county roads, it was a different story.
"There were lots of utility conflicts, and relocating them was tough," Allen said. He pointed to the sheer amount of fiber as the key challenge.
The flatness of the landscape also makes moving water off the streets challenging. "We had to determine where to send the water to keep it off the roadway," Klein said.
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Four major intersections in the project area impact daily city traffic flow. The state tasked the team with minimizing the amount of time the intersections were closed. The urgency to reopen the intersections was not driven by the length of the detours.
"Most of the detours were going around a 'country mile' and were fairly easy to navigate, as far as total distance," Klein said.
Despite that, the team was determined to minimize the time drivers were inconvenienced. They shut down some county roads for as few as 30 days. Other intersections were shut down for four months. One intersection, which is located right at the new alignment, was closed for 18 months.
"Scheduling the closures and getting them done on time was a challenge," Allen said. "We had to get them opened and back up for traffic for the State Fair and Husker Harvest days [a three-day event that brings in 100,000-plus people], which takes place off of U.S. 30."
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Meeting the deadline required close coordination.
Traffic control was another issue the team had to address. "We debated if we should put up stop signs when we were working and remove them when we were not open," Klein said. "We decided to leave the stop signs up to help accustom drivers to the conditions."
Allen also mentioned the issue of traffic flow. "We had to make sure our guys and the dirt guys stayed aware of the utilities, so they wouldn’t run into conflicts which would have slowed production,” he said.
The team used four different working pavers to speed up the process and complete the work on time.
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Five general contractors bid on the job, with Werner Construction bidding the lowest price to gain the job. The third-generation, family-owned company works with NDOT regularly. Established in 1936, Werner specializes in road construction, asphalt, and concrete paving.
The contractor is headquartered in Hastings, Nebraska, about 30 miles from the project location.
"This job is close to our home and is set up for our strengths," Allen said. "It's time sensitive, and we're good at coordinating with subs and getting jobs done in a tight window."
Klein said he has been pleased with Werner. "They've been great to work with,” he said. “They have weekly partnering meetings with us and subs, easy to get hold of them, and are responsive to our requests."
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The project's construction budget is $33.5 million. The state is providing 80 percent of the funding, while the city is providing remaining 20 percent.
“The city also requested $1 million worth of work at 100 percent city funding, mostly to accommodate future projects — installing culverts for a future drainage diversion channel and a box culvert to accommodate a future hike and bike trail,” Klein said.
State funds are provided through the Build Nebraska Act (BNA), enacted in 2011. According to NDOT’s website, the BNA “dedicated the revenue generated equivalent to one-quarter of 1 percent of the general state sales tax rate for expansion of the Expressway System, federally designated High Priority Corridors, and reconstruction of the existing transportation system."
The final tally is expected to come in slightly above the original figure, primarily due to added work. To avoid significantly raising the cost, the team made a change to the original design, which included retaining walls at the east end of the project.
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"After looking at the design with the state and city, we realized it wasn't going to work," Allen said. "We switched to a pipe rather than an open ditch and retaining walls, which lowered the price." Using pipe was more cost-effective than constructing retaining walls.
Another cost-saving measure is that Werner used many of the materials from the existing highway for fill.
Construction on the project began in April 2024, and completion is scheduled for June 2026. In 2026, the team will need to complete some minor finishing work, such as installing permanent pavement markings.
Allen said that the key to maintaining the project schedule was keeping a handle on the drainage and giving the water somewhere to go. That detail proved especially important when the area received 8 inches of rain over six hours. The storm flooded the town.
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"We poured mainline concrete within 24 hours after the storm," Allen said. "Our haul road was protected as we made drainage a priority, so we could keep working no matter the conditions."
Werner also made their own concrete on site, which greatly assisted in maintaining the schedule.
In addition, Allen credits the crew who worked through adverse conditions to keep the project moving forward.
Klein and NDOT are confident that the realignment of U.S. 30 will reduce congestion. The project is also expected to reduce crashes at the intersection and improve safety overall.
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- Owner/Engineer: Nebraska Department of Transportation
- General Contractor: Werner Construction, Hastings, Nebraska
- Designer: Kirkham Michael, Omaha, Nebraska
- Other Contractors: Van Kirk, Sutton, Nebraska
