Ogallala, Ne - The Ogallala City Council held their regular meeting last night, amongst the conversation, the council talked about future plans for the reconstruction of Highway 30 through Ogallala.
Ogallala City Manager, Kevin Wilkins said "The State, in order to move forward with a level of confidence to incur costs in the work and in the final design and getting ready to go out for bids; they (State) want some assurances from the local government. We have that agreement to move forward with this project."
Wilkins said the construction and reconstruction of highway 30 would be from one end to the other. The city is looking at a bid in 2026 and highway construction in 2027 or early 2028.
He says the reconstruction of 30 would primarily be around highway 61 and highway 30 junction, with resurfacing being the largest focus on the rest of highway 30 through Ogallala. (LISTEN TO PODCAST sponsored by North Platte Kubota)
The Council also discussed and voted in favor of the "Request for Qualification" for the City of Ogallala Flood Protection for City of Ogallala and Surrounding Areas. Wilkins said, this request had to happen for the City to be able to apply for an EPA Grant that potentially would give the City more funds to work on flood infrastructure when the highway 30 projects begin. The EPA Grant application is due in April of this year.
According to Wilkins, "we're looking at early estimates of eight million bucks to fix the drainage issues. We had a meeting with the Department of Roads a week ago and I think there's some synergy that we can gain as they tear up the highway. They've got a certain amount of drainage infrastructure that they need to replace if they tore it up anyway without oversizing it. We may be able to negotiate something where you (Department of Roads) pick up what it would cost to have just replaced it, and we (City of Ogallala) pay for the oversight.
They don't want to build a brand-new road and then two years later we get the money and then we go in and tear it out to put the flood infrastructure in. We're trying to time the two projects to happen at the same time."
Finally, Wilkins wanted to remind the public to fill out the Community Vision Survey. CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY
The city is planning a public open house meeting on April 6 to share and discuss the feedback from this survey.
The City of Ogallala is embarking on an update to its Comprehensive Plan to guide future growth and development.
All residents and stakeholders are encouraged to participate in this public open house meeting.