The concept of a complete circumferential roadway system around the City of Lincoln has been discussed formally for about 40 years. The 1961 Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan identified Interstate 80 (I-80), located north of the City, as the most important link in the circumferential route, supplemented by a loop system around the urban area. The 1966 Lincoln Metropolitan Area Transportation Study depicted an "East Side Freeway" and a "U.S. 77 West Bypass" in the Major Street Plan. In 1971, a comprehensive study was undertaken of the east and west bypasses that identified several alternate corridors and their associated costs and impacts. The following year, the State Highway Commission designated the U.S. Highway 77 (US 77) west bypass as the top priority for funding. Since then, efforts and resources of the community, Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) and various political entities have been focused on completion of the US 77 west bypass, the K and L Street connection between the west bypass and downtown area, and the Nebraska Highway 2 (N-2) connection to the west bypass along Van Dorn Street. As these projects approached completion, attention became focused on the need to complete the loop road network with south and east beltways.
1.2 PROJECT PURPOSE
The purpose of the South and East Beltways Study has been to conduct a feasibility study and alternatives evaluation for preferred beltway alignments on the south and east fringes of the City of Lincoln to complete a circumferential transportation system (Figure 1.1). The south beltway would connect US 77 with N-2, while the east beltway would connect N-2 with I-80.
The ultimate goal of the South and East Beltways Study was to determine if south and/or east transportation corridors are needed and feasible, and if so, to identify preferred alignments to guide the preservation of right-of-way and allow for eventual construction of the beltways and related facilities.
In addition to the feasibility study, the project included concurrent traffic and economic modeling to determine project benefits and costs under future scenarios. Other considerations included evaluation of the potential for (1) coordination with existing and planned drainageways and utility corridors; (2) consolidation of railway corridors in the south beltway corridor; (3) development of a linear park and hiker/biker/equestrian trails along both the south and east corridors; and (4) preservation of a corridor for wildlife habitat and/or an ecologically sensitive wilderness park.
The study included preparation of this Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to satisfy requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). All federally funded projects must comply with NEPA which requires that social, environmental and economic considerations be incorporated in project planning, and that public involvement be incorporated into the decision making process. The intent of the law is to find a balance between population needs and use of resources-with the idea that there can be a productive harmony between advancing development and preservation of our nation's resources for future generations.
1.3 PROJECT NEED
Traffic data, regional growth trends and previous studies have all indicated a need for south and east beltways.
Regional Growth. The City of Lincoln and Lancaster County have had a long, sustained history of population expansion, with an average increase of around one percent per year over the past several decades. Much of this growth has taken place in the City of Lincoln, where population has been increasing at a rate of 1.18 percent annually for the past two decades, partially due to annexation. Some of the highest rates of growth have been on the south and east fringes of the City. This continued growth in both population and area necessitates planning ahead for future major transportation corridors.
Long-Range Regional Transportation Plan. The Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan serves as the Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization's Long-Range Regional Transportation Plan, and includes projects encompassing 20 years. The Community Congress, a citizen's advisory group involved in the update of the 1994 Lincoln City-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan, clearly established the desire of the community to complete the loop around the City. One of the goals suggested by the Community Congress and adopted by City and County officials was "to provide for a long-range plan to develop early identification of bypass corridors and right-of-way retention". The south and east beltway corridor study is being conducted for this purpose. The beltway system is viewed as an essential component of the regional transportation network that would move through traffic around congested urban areas, as well as reduce delay and improve traffic flow on the existing urban street system.
In addition to accommodating through traffic, a beltway system will also facilitate trips that have an origin within the metropolitan area and a destination outside of the area, or vice versa. Currently, these trips are primarily made using arterial roadways with signalized intersections and, in some cases, direct access to adjacent properties. This results in excessive delay and increased exposure to accidents due to abrupt stopping, turning, and lane changing. While it is unlikely that internal trips (trips with an origin and destination within the metropolitan area) will use the beltway system to as great as extent as those with an external origin or destination, these trips will also benefit. A significant amount of through traffic on the current major routes (N-2, US 34 (O Street), US 6 (Cornhusker Highway) and 84th Street) will be relocated to the beltway system providing additional capacity and reduced congestion for internal trip traffic.
The South Beltway. The south beltway would provide an alternative connection between US 77 in the southwest and N-2 at the southeast edge of Lincoln. N-2 is not only the most direct route between Kansas City (via Interstate 29) and I-80 West, but it also serves as the City's primary arterial from growth areas in the south and east of the City into downtown. A beltway could divert through traffic from the urbanized portions of N-2, and improve the flow of interstate travel around the City. It could also reduce congestion on the urban street system and improve safety by reducing the number of heavy trucks that share the roadway with passenger vehicles with local destinations.
The study area for the south beltway is bounded on the north by Yankee Hill Road, on the south by the half-section line 0.8 km (0.5 mi) south of Bennett Road, on the east by the half-section line 0.8 km (0.5 mi) east of 148th Street, and on the west by US 77 (Figure 1.1).
The East Beltway. The east beltway would connect N-2 at the southeast edge of Lincoln with I-80 in the northeast, with access points to US 34 and US 6. This corridor could serve many trips between the south and east portions of Lincoln and I-80 East, including Omaha. It would relieve traffic on the existing urban street system and serve as a truck route.
The study area for the east beltway is bounded on the west by 98th Street, on the east by the half-section line 0.8 km (0.5 mi) east of 148th Street, on the north by I-80, and on the south by N-2 (Figure 1.1).
Truck Routes. The 1993 Lincoln Truck Route Study, a comprehensive study of long-range and interim truck routes in the Lincoln area, strongly supports the need for south and east beltways to divert through truck traffic around the urban area. The need for these truck routes has become increasingly evident following the completion of the upgrade of N-2 between Lincoln and Nebraska City to an expressway facility. The improved roadway has resulted in increased traffic volumes on the urbanized portions of N-2.
Traffic Studies. The Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Department maintains a travel demand forecasting model in order to model the amount of traffic that would use the beltway system if it were constructed. It can also model the effect these roadways would have on existing major streets within the metropolitan area. The most current travel demand model uses the Build Out Scenario II (BOS II) land use plan and the 1- to 20-year roadway improvements in the Comprehensive Plan as the base for evaluating potential roadway improvements. This plan includes the assumptions of a projected County population of 374,630 to occur within a 25 to 30 year planning horizon, and an accompanying expansion of the future urban service area to incorporate amendments to the 1994 Comprehensive Plan. These increases have a direct effect on the amount of traffic projected to use the beltways.
Using this model, the south beltway is expected to carry 14,000 to 19,000 vehicles per day and the east beltway is expected to carry 14,000 to 30,000 vehicles per day depending on the segment examined and its relative distance from the center of Lincoln. This shift of traffic from the arterial street system to the beltways results in a 10 to 30 percent reduction in traffic on segments of major arterials such as N-2, US 6, and 84th Street. This reduction preserves capacity and defers future widening on existing arterial streets. Since these roadways are currently situated within developed areas, widening to 6-lanes would be very expensive and have substantial negative impacts to adjacent properties.
In addition to reducing through traffic on internal urban roadways within the existing metropolitan area, a significant benefit is expected by reducing truck traffic on rural roadways on the fringe of the metropolitan area. The most reduction is expected on Saltillo Road between South 84th Street and US 77 and on North 148th Street between N-2 and Waverly. These roadways are expected to experience a 40 to 80 percent and 30 to 90 percent reduction in total traffic, respectively.
Need for Advance Planning. The need for the south and east beltways is expected to increase as the City grows, and as state highways leading to Lincoln become more congested. However, if the planning process is delayed until the need becomes urgent, acquisition of right-of-way will become increasingly costly and disruptive to the community. Completion of the South and East Beltways Study provides for early identification of potential corridors. If implemented, this will allow growth of the City to occur around these corridors, rather than forcing a transportation corridor through otherwise developed areas.
Other benefits from early identification of the corridors include more pro-active public participation and agency involvement; enhanced positive environmental impacts and reduced negative impacts; reduced impacts on developed properties; reduced costs for right-of-way acquisition and roadway construction; fewer compromises in design; accelerated relief for other area roadways; and coordination with future land uses.
Concurrence. Following the Nebraska Local Operating Procedures for Integrating NEPA/404, the Purpose and Need Statement for the beltway project EIS was reviewed by five agencies in June 1996. Concurrence was received from the US Army Corps of Engineers, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (Appendix A) indicating that the statement was satisfactory and the information provided was adequate to advance to the next stage of project development.
The same five agencies reviewed the Preliminary Draft Environmental Impact Statement (PDEIS, dated 13 November 2000) and concurred that it was satisfactory (Appendix A). Specific comments were received from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US Environmental Protection Agency and have been addressed in this document (see Section 6.16). The PDEIS was also reviewed by the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office which concurred with the findings of the PDEIS and the findings of the appendices as the relate to Section 106 consultation (Appendix E).
10Apr01
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