Just got out of the public meeting about this project.
A few highlights:
Southbound will be worked on during 2019.
Northbound will be worked on during 2020.
No left turns on 156th for the duration of the project.
Blondo Street will be closed west of 156th while school is out for summer in 2019 and they will work on getting as much done with that before school resumes. Once school resumes, it will be one lane in each direction until complete.
During a small sliver of time within the west Blondo closure, 156th Street will close to put in a pipe underneath the street.
Blondo Street will be closed between the shopping center entrance just west of 154th to 156th while school is out for summer in 2020.
156th & Pepperwood will get dual left turn lanes westbound, northbound, and eastbound (not southbound due to space).
156th & Blondo will have a truss light (think 144th & Blondo).
They will be coordinating with NDOT on the West Maple resurfacing from 108th to Ramblewood Rd (~213th). That project will last two years.
They will be coordinating with the City of Omaha on resurfacing of Blondo between 189th and 192nd. That project should be pretty short.
OmahaJaysCU wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:22 pm
Wow I thought they were doing 1 year complete closure like 180th...
Yeah, I wish they would. But apparently they need it open for Abbott Elementary and if they closed it they would need to do an environmental survey (not really sure why).
Is this all done yet? I've been wondering about this stretch. If it is, it has got to be so nice.
I can get pushed out because I'm "too much" for some. Then, an observer of me comes suddenly swooping in to "fill my shoes." People are always more accepting of the new one, because their feathers aren't truly ruffled by them. (Yawn) I can count on it every time.
Stargazer wrote: Fri May 24, 2019 11:20 pm
Anyone notice the horrific concrete work done on West Maple... it almost looks like asphalt. I can't imagine it will survive a single winter.
They are supposed to patch the really bad sections, then mill the whole thing and overlay it with asphalt.
Thanks for the info. Once they widen that stretch, it will feel so nice through there.
Every time Omaha finally widens stretches like that -- finally ending traffic-clogged two-lane roads lined with grassy ditches and backyard fences, replacing them with four-lane roads with medians, lined with sidewalks and block walls, and sound walls -- it just feels and looks sooooo much nicer, and more urban.
I think suburban Omaha is very attractive-looking. The houses styles are very nice-looking. The new housing rolling over the land, under the big skies, looks neat. But, ugh, those farm grid roads taking forever to be widened... (I"m sure Omaha hears complaints about it non-stop. I don't know why they don't ever widen roads right before the growth comes -- avoiding all the headaches once it is built up.)
I can get pushed out because I'm "too much" for some. Then, an observer of me comes suddenly swooping in to "fill my shoes." People are always more accepting of the new one, because their feathers aren't truly ruffled by them. (Yawn) I can count on it every time.
RockHarbor wrote: Sat May 25, 2019 2:02 pm
But, ugh, those farm grid roads taking forever to be widened... (I"m sure Omaha hears complaints about it non-stop. I don't know why they don't ever widen roads right before the growth comes -- avoiding all the headaches once it is built up.)
I've wondered, too. But it makes sense that the demand for new housing was too high to wait for a proper road to be built prior. Omaha grew A LOT in the northwesterly direction in the last 20 or 30 or so years. I imagine traffic wasn't necessarily a problem with the first subdivisions being built closest to Dodge, but as each mile was filled in to the north, the streets picked up double, triple, quadruple the amount of traffic they originally carried from the start.
RockHarbor wrote: Sat May 25, 2019 2:02 pm
But, ugh, those farm grid roads taking forever to be widened... (I"m sure Omaha hears complaints about it non-stop. I don't know why they don't ever widen roads right before the growth comes -- avoiding all the headaches once it is built up.)
I've wondered, too. But it makes sense that the demand for new housing was too high to wait for a proper road to be built prior. Omaha grew A LOT in the northwesterly direction in the last 20 or 30 or so years. I imagine traffic wasn't necessarily a problem with the first subdivisions being built closest to Dodge, but as each mile was filled in to the north, the streets picked up double, triple, quadruple the amount of traffic they originally carried from the start.
It would be nice if they could be widened before the areas built up. It's much cheaper and faster to close a street and redo it than it is to build under traffic. The problem is we are way behind and the amount of money it would take to catch up is beyond what we can afford.
I live in this area, and wanted to note that while the pandemic seems to have thrown them behind schedule, last week they got the road bed on the east side of Blondo poured, and I think we are just a month or two from that being opened , which I personally will be very glad of, because living on the east side of the intersection, getting from home near 153rd and Blondo to Target/Aldi at 168th and Maple, which are our main shopping destinations during the pandemic, feels like it takes a lot longer when we have to wind through the neighborhood to get onto 156th or Blondo. I think I understand why they couldn't do it all at once, because the neighborhood streets couldn't have safely handled the Abbot Traffic, but man would it have been nice to get it all done in one summer.
Original wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2020 10:24 am
I live in this area, and wanted to note that while the pandemic seems to have thrown them behind schedule, last week they got the road bed on the east side of Blondo poured, and I think we are just a month or two from that being opened , which I personally will be very glad of, because living on the east side of the intersection, getting from home near 153rd and Blondo to Target/Aldi at 168th and Maple, which are our main shopping destinations during the pandemic, feels like it takes a lot longer when we have to wind through the neighborhood to get onto 156th or Blondo. I think I understand why they couldn't do it all at once, because the neighborhood streets couldn't have safely handled the Abbot Traffic, but man would it have been nice to get it all done in one summer.
That’s good to know..
It seems like this stretch has been “under construction” for more than 5 years now.. Although I believe construction stated 2, maybe 3 years ago?...
Well, this area around Blondo from 132nd West has had a lot done to it over the past 10ish years - 132nd and 144th getting widened, Blondo getting widened, 168th getting widened, now 156th. We moved here in 2017 just after the Blondo 144th-153rd widening, but then the 168th widening was summer 2018, and now 156th has been 2019-now/early 2021.
Hey, people who are in with developers developing other areas of town/political folks involved - get the roads widened when the developments are being built!
I live in an adjacent neighborhood. Construction started the previous spring and was originally slated to be done by I think November. That said, the closures on Blondo have been much longer than they said both years. It was only supposed to be closed through the summer and reopen once school started.
It's so close to being completed right now. I'm thinking they will move northbound traffic to the new lanes in the next couple weeks and then there won't be too much after that.
And I'm totally in agreement with widening the roads when they build the neighborhoods. By waiting until everything is built up, it causes it to take longer and cost way more due to the fact that they need to keep the road open.
At least they have been preemptively widening newer areas to three lanes now as opposed to just keeping the two-lane rural roads like they did years ago.
On another semi-related note - I thought they were going to widen the intersection of 156th and Pacific this year in prep for widening 156th between there and Dodge in a couple years. It was supposed to be done over the summer, so obviously that's not happening. They've been doing a really poor keeping keepomahamoving up-to-date this year.
HR Paperstacks wrote: Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:40 pm
On another semi-related note - I thought they were going to widen the intersection of 156th and Pacific this year in prep for widening 156th between there and Dodge in a couple years. It was supposed to be done over the summer, so obviously that's not happening. They've been doing a really poor keeping keepomahamoving up-to-date this year.
I can vouch for this. I drive through that intersection probably 4/5 times per week..
I had noticed the graphic, but I guess I expected more of an announcement since they presented earlier in the year saying it was planned for the summer. It was probably best to hold off though since Blondo has been closed all summer and Maple under restrictions.
Sometime in the last week or so, 156th has mostly reopened for traffic flow. Not all 4 lanes, but the 156th and Blondo intersection is open all directions. I assume the permanent stoplight installation will close it again temporarily sometime in the near future.
Original wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:06 pm
Sometime in the last week or so, 156th has mostly reopened for traffic flow. Not all 4 lanes, but the 156th and Blondo intersection is open all directions. I assume the permanent stoplight installation will close it again temporarily sometime in the near future.
I drove through this intersection yesterday afternoon on 156th street. I can confirm, the Blondo intersection is currently open..one lane each way North/South and East/West...
Original wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:06 pm
Sometime in the last week or so, 156th has mostly reopened for traffic flow. Not all 4 lanes, but the 156th and Blondo intersection is open all directions. I assume the permanent stoplight installation will close it again temporarily sometime in the near future.
I drove through this intersection yesterday afternoon on 156th street. I can confirm, the Blondo intersection is currently open..one lane each way North/South and East/West...
Ciao..LiO...Peace
It was a pleasant surprise last week when they finally opened the other side along with Blondo. Now it looks like they just have to finish up the left turn lanes at Pepperwood, Blondo, and Corby, finish up the median, get the signals up, and put in the sidewalk on the west side. Can't wait for it all to be finally finished after two construction seasons.
Original wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:06 pm
Sometime in the last week or so, 156th has mostly reopened for traffic flow. Not all 4 lanes, but the 156th and Blondo intersection is open all directions. I assume the permanent stoplight installation will close it again temporarily sometime in the near future.
I drove through this intersection yesterday afternoon on 156th street. I can confirm, the Blondo intersection is currently open..one lane each way North/South and East/West...
Ciao..LiO...Peace
It was a pleasant surprise last week when they finally opened the other side along with Blondo. Now it looks like they just have to finish up the left turn lanes at Pepperwood, Blondo, and Corby, finish up the median, get the signals up, and put in the sidewalk on the west side. Can't wait for it all to be finally finished after two construction seasons.
Agreed..
It’s going to be good to get the traffic flow on 156th from Blondo to Pepperwood/Dodge back to normal again..
I wonder if Kwik shop got any money out of this. They completely isolated it from 2 directions. If you are going east on Blondo or south on 156th, you can't get there without a lot of work.
