BEATRICE – Some final touches remain, but the road connecting U.S. Highway 136 south to the Rockford State Recreation Area is now open. The badly conditioned asphalt stretch was resurfaced and had paint stripes applied a week ago.


"We shouldered it on Monday....they fine dressed it on Tuesday. We're gonna let it set, get some rain on it...and then in the next week or two, dress it up again and seed it....getting prepped for the Cattlemen's Ball."


Farther in the future, officials were hoping to tap Nebraska Game and Parks Commission funding to resurface the asphalt road extending around the east side of Rockford Lake….but Gage County Highway Superintendent Mark Kuhnke says that plan has been put on hold for about a year.


"The Game and Parks, they're stating that they're broke. So the only project they have going now, and it's very limited funds...is going out to the Calamus project out west. All the other projects have been shut down."


Gage County Board members got an update on work to complete several culvert projects in the north and west areas of the county, by Vogtscapes.  Owner Tim Vogt says a significant amount of work has been done.


"We're still wanting to ask for a June first completion date...and we would be alright paying liquidated damages after that. I do think we're going to run a weekend June 1st with the concrete cure and everything else....just to be completely honest with everybody."


The work was initially scheduled to be completed last fall, but county officials granted an extension until May 1st…..with an additional one-month extension granted recently. Area residents have been detoured around work sites.