Residents living on a stretch of Harrison Street in Sarpy County will have to make preparations when a ten block section of Harrison Street is closed starting next month.
Only local traffic will be allowed through the closure stretching from 147th to 157th Street. Barriers will stay up until the winter. Thursday evening, a steady stream of fast-moving west-bound traffic packed into just two lanes on Harrison Street at 150th. Lori Marker lives a block away. Over the years, she's noticed more cars and more crashes.
“We always hear cars screeching,” Marker told 6 News. “It's a hazard.”
This construction project calls for the street to be widened to four lanes from 147th to 157th Street. The first phase of the project, a noise reduction wall, is already complete. “Our schedule is going just as we had planned up to this point in time,” said Sarpy County Engineer Dennis Wilson.
At a community meeting Thursday night, Wilson outlined the project to a gym filled with curious residents. Diane Edwards was at the meeting and says even though the project is an inconvenience, it's worth it. “I guess we'll just have to put up with it and get through it,” said Edwards. “We'll be happy when it's all done.”
This project has a price tag of more than $10 million. So far, the project is on budget. Sarpy County and the city of Omaha are splitting the cost.