NEBRASKA CITY – Hundreds packed the Palmyra High School Thursday where the Nebraska Department of Transportation displayed its designs for two RCUT intersections that will manage three intersections near Palmyra.

For School Superintendent Michael Hart the planned construction start in the fall of 2026 is none too early.

Hart: “We’ve had some really horrific wrecks, some fatalities out here and, as a superintendent with young kids crossing a busy highway and families, we worry about the safety of our kids, especially on buses getting to and from school. Anything we can do to increase the highway safety in this area, I’m willing to look at.”

The design will end attempts of drivers to cross the four-lane highway at Highway 43, Palmyra’s Casey’s and the state spur into the Village of Douglas. Rather, drivers will take right turns onto onramps and merge with highway traffic.

Accidents in the 1.5-mile stretch of the highway prompted state officials to lower the speed limit from 70 to 55 mph and District 1 Engineer Brandon Varilek said safety is motivating the $5.7 million project.

Varilek: “The main feature is it eliminates the drivers on the side streets having to cross both lanes of traffic, look both directions, and wait for a gap in both directions. You’re only turning one way, which is to the right, so you are only looking at one direction of traffic. It reduces the decisions that are required as well as the delay in waiting for a gap in both directions.”

 

For some drivers unfamiliar with RCUTs  the explanation of turning right, merging with traffic, making a U-turn and merging traffic again doesn’t sound all that much safer, but Varilek said the design is working in Nebraska.

Varilek: “Another one is up at Humboldt and that has almost entirely eliminated the accidents that we were seeing, so it’s been a huge success.”

The transportation department contacted emergency responders and the school last summer regarding the RCUT designs.

Hart: “I think this is a newer concept to Nebraska, there’s only a few in the state, but I think moving forward, if that reduces the speed, if it reduces the crashes in this area and it keeps our kids and our staff and our buses and our families safer, then I think that’s a win-win.”

The state is still in the design phase, which currently has a future speed limit of the segment at 60 mph.