FAIRBURY, Neb. - Officials from the Nebraska Department of Transportation confirmed this week that construction on a bridge on the PWF Road near the Gage County line can begin before work starts on the remainder of the road, a key point for Southeast Nebraska citizens anxious to see progress on this critical roadway. 

That was the understanding after last week’s site visit that brought officials and scientists from NDOT and Olsson to Diller, but some concern was cast upon that conclusion by a follow-up email sent to county officials Tuesday morning. In a call with the Jefferson County commissioners this week, NDOT project manager Jenna Habegger cleared up that confusion quickly, confirming that construction on the bridge can begin as soon as it’s ready. 

“So the bridge that was awarded with the County Bridge Match Program funds can be taken out of the PWF Road planned project, and let and constructed separately, and as soon as possible,” Habegger said. “But the mile segment east of that bridge that [county engineer] Tim Farmer had asked if we could pull out and include in that is going to have to stay in the PWF Road project because it was included in the congressional spending application when it was awarded.” 

That’s the crux of the conversation here: Jefferson County was awarded state funding through NDOT to repair that bridge, and separate federal funding through work with Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer and Representative Adrian Smith to repair the rest of the road. The county has been working to essentially turn this into two separate projects, securing the funding and the personnel to repair the bridge first before beginning work on the remainder of the PWF Road.  

“The biggest holdup on the whole project is going to be that bridge – it's going to take the most time,” assistant highway superintendent Terry Blas said. “And if we can get it going...the sooner we can get it done, the sooner the other people could come in and start their grading and other stuff too.” 

“We’ve been able to expedite a number of things on the project, so we’re at least cautiously optimistic that we’d be able to do bid letting next year, and then start construction,” Jefferson County commissioner Mark Schoenrock said. 

The county was awarded $500,000 from NDOT’s bridge match program to help cover the cost of the bridge in question, with the county responsible for funding the rest. At the site visit last week, Farmer initially estimated the total cost of the bridge to be around $1.2 million, but Blas said this week the county is likely to receive ten bids if not more from companies that want to work on the project, which could drive the total cost down to south of a million. 

The county also received $8.5 million in congressionally directed spending to help offset the cost of the entire PWF Road project - approximately $13 million in total per Farmer’s estimate. The second half of Habegger’s Tuesday statement confirms that the stretch of road that runs about three-quarters of a mile past the bridge up to the Gage County line must be considered part of the federally funded road project, not the state-funded bridge project. 

And thanks to the efforts by local, state and federal officials and Tuesday’s confirmation, the plan to tackle the bridge repairs first is now officially a go. Blas predicted that by the end of summer or start of fall this year they should have construction plans in place, and could then begin construction on the bridge sometime after that. 

“Weather’s going to be the problem, it is on every project like this,” Blas said.  

“It’s also the excuse, too, for every project,” county commissioner Michael Dux replied. 

“Exactly - but we could start construction next year, early,” Blas concluded.  

Currently, the plan is to begin construction on the remainder of the PWF Road in Spring 2027.