FAIRBURY - Earlier this year, the Jefferson County Highway Department was recognized for their work repaving a road at the southern end of the state.

Working with Speece Lewis and Central Valley Paving, the County embarked on a months-long project, commonly known as the Steele City South project. The mission: to completely repair and repave 576th Avenue, a stretch of road that runs south of Steele City and through the Kansas border.

“It’s the hard work of a whole lot of people that brought that road to fruition," Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock said. "We had an excellent design staff with Speece Lewis, everybody involved with the construction, I thought we had a first-rate team, with, of course, the involvement of our county highway department. It was the work of a whole lot of good people, and just a great project.” 

Jefferson County was one of six organizations in Nebraska honored in Lincoln in January by the Nebraska Concrete Paving Association. This project specifically was crowned the best "county roads project" by the statewide organization. 

The award, presented to Jefferson County highway supervisors Jason Eyer and Terry Blas in Lincoln at the end of January, reads: "Your efforts to achieve quality construction through superior skills, integrity and pride-of-workmanship are honored on behalf of users everywhere."