News

Four potential options for a new roadway alignment that would divert heavy truck traffic and alleviate some neighborhood impacts along Highway 75 in northeast Omaha are identified in the final report of the Highway 75 Corridor and Freight Strategy Study.  The Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) released the study’s final report this week.

Highway 75, known locally as North 30th Street in northeast Omaha, carries between 15,000 and 20,000 vehicles per day. Four to six percent of those trips involve heavy trucks. 

At the beginning of the study, MAPA identified a total of nine potential alternatives and evaluated them against the study’s goals of mobility, safety, accessibility, freight movement, neighborhood quality and economics.

The narrowed list of potential options includes:

• 30th Street Complete Street Enhancements – Change to three lanes, one through-lane each direction with center turn lane, add curb bump outs
• Diverting truck traffic to Pershing Drive between 28th Street to 28th Avenue, have one through-lane each direction with center turn lane
• Building a 16th Street river crossing for truck traffic with two through-lanes each direction and center turn lane or median-divided with left turn lanes
• Building a Pershing Drive river crossing with two through-lanes each direction and center turn lane or median-divided with left turn lanes
• Making no changes to the Highway 75/North 30th Street corridor

“Each of the options to change the Highway 75 corridor requires significant investment,” said Mike Helgerson, MAPA Executive Director.  “This is the first step in the process of evaluating the feasibility of making changes to Highway 75 and 30th Street in the study area.” 

The final report of the Highway 75 Corridor and Freight Strategy Study can be found at mapacog.org/reports/highway-75-corridor-freight-strategy-study/.

Check out the Executive Summary: Executive Summary – Highway 75 Corridor & Freight Strategy Study

MAPA staff presented the study findings to the North Omaha Commercial Club at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Universal College of Healing Arts, 8702 N. 30th Street.