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LINCOLN — The Nebraska Department of Transportation selected 10 proposals Dec. 1 for the County Bridge Match Program.
Cedar County submitted two proposals for the bridge match program, but neither was selected, said Cedar County Highway Supt. Carla Schmidt.
Schmidt said she submitted proposals to put in box culverts to replace a bridge near Bow Valley and to replace a bridge four miles north of Laurel.
'Both are bridges that need to be replaced soon,' she said.
This is the tenth round of the County Bridge Match Program.
Although Cedar County was not selected this time, the county has been able to get bridge funding four times to replace six bridges in the past nine years, Schmidt said.
Three of those remained bridges and three were replaced with concrete box culverts.
The most recent Cedar County projects were the bridge on 883 Rd just north of the fairgrounds and two box culverts; one on 570 Ave - north and east of Hartington; the other on 561st Ave, west of Coleridge. These projects were complete in 2024.
Established in 2016 under the Transportation Innovation Act (TIA), the program concludes its first decade having delivered significant, lasting benefits to rural communities across Nebraska, said Created to share construction costs and help counties rebuild crossings essential to rural life and commerce, the CBMP has become a cornerstone in maintaining and improving Nebraska’s county bridge network.
The program provides funding for the innovative replacement and repair of deficient county bridges, with NDOT selecting applications based on criteria that emphasize community impacts on essential services, local economies, and daily life.
Since its inception in 2016, the CBMP has:
• Received 591 proposals, of which 173 were selected. • Repaired or replaced 390 bridges. • Awarded $40 million to counties, generating over $108 million in construction activity.
For Round 10, the proposals selected for funding represent nine counties and 15 bridges, with an estimated total construction cost of $9.8 million, including $4 million from the CBMP.
A full list of selected proposals is available on the NDOT website at dot.nebraska.gov/ projects/tia/bridge-match/.
