BEATRICE – Over $5 million worth of street and roadwork is planned in Beatrice for 2026.

The Beatrice City Council Monday night approved the formal one and six-year year street plan of the city. City Engineer James Burroughs says a big project is the state-led resurfacing of U.S. Highway 136.

"This is the project where the state is going to come in and mill and overlay Highway 136 from 1st Street to about 24th Street. The project is estimated to cost about $2.3 million."

The city uses a combination of a computer rating service along with local inspections and observations to determine what streets will get priority.

Another project next year was the subject of bid approval Monday night….the roughly $426,000 rebuilding of Ella Street between 2nd and 3rd.

"We have some angle parking on one side and has parallel parking on the other. We are incorporating some landscaping and planting areas along with this project. We're removing the brick that's there now.....and it will be all concrete."

The bid and landscaping came in under an engineering estimate of about $498,000. Other major work in next year’s part of the plan is concrete reconstruction on 7th between Arthur and Monroe, and a Jefferson Street project that city officials say should open up as many as seven lots in the Hannibal View area of east Beatrice.

In 2027, a major state project that will require a local governmental share is resurfacing U.S. Highway 77 from the south edge of the city, north to Industrial Row. Burroughs says design of that project will impact how much the city pays.

"The only thing the state will determine when they go to stripe those lanes is whether it is going to be striped as three lanes, or four lanes. We've talked about it already, but just the funds if they stripe it as four lanes, we could be on the hook for six million dollars. By going to the three lane, it's a bucket we can handle (about $500,000)....and we feel that the traffic will flow the way it should, along this corridor."

Councilman Duane Ruh maintains there is business opposition to turning part of U.S. 77 into three lanes, rather than four.

"I just feel that the traffic is so heavy that people are not going to be able to get in and out. I'm just going to say that there's a lot of people that do not want that to happen." 

Council member Dana Hydo says the financial impact is important when settling on the U.S. 77 traffic design.

"All things considered, if the state said you could leave it four lanes, I'd say leave it four lanes. Those of us that remember this....it was bad when they changed it to three lanes. I'm hoping we can do some things so it is not bad. But do I think we should spend six million dollars to keep it four lanes?....No.....that's crazy."

Burroughs says U.S. 77 essentially functions as a three-lane now, stacking up traffic with motorists wanting to make left turns. Mayor Bob Morgan cautions that a focus of the city’s Safe Streets for All plan, is safety.

"If we save just one life...that's worth any of the headache that everybody's talking about. So, we have to remember that in the conversation too....because we're looking out for the constituents lives, in the City of Beatrice."

The short and longer-term street plan was approved following a public hearing before the council.