Jamie Koerner

    So, because the project is currently on the five-year program with the state and in the preliminary design phase, the city and county are working to prepare for the expansion.
     Having a detour in place will be important to keep the economy flowing in Seward County. In addition, the highway expansion will benefit the economy and add safety when complete, Highway Superintendent Russ Daehling said.
     Daehling said Seward County Department of Roads feels it's important to prepare for the shift in traffic from the highway to the detour.
     If NDOR starts the expansion construction in 2011, it gives Seward County four years to have a safe, efficient highway detour in place.
     Daehling said the goal of the road department is to have three bridges on roads that run parallel to the highway replaced by 2011 and to have Izaak Walton Road extended to 294th Road and paved to create a southwest bypass from Highway 15 to Highway 34. The extension is also a proposed detour when the highway is being worked on north of Izaak Walton Road.
     Daehling said previously the department has been funded by the state to reconstruct one bridge per year on the Federal Bridge Program list.
     The road department in Seward has made the bridge on South Second Street a priority for replacement, but it will be the most difficult to reconstruct because it crosses Plum Creek. He estimated the bridge on South second would take six months at the least to complete.
     "Bridges are such a vital thing as far as logistics and moving goods and services to keep the county rolling," Daehling said.
     The project that the road department hoped to begin this fall was the extension of Izaak Walton Road to 294th Road, but all the required paper work for right of way with the landowners was not complete in time to begin. The extension of the road will go through the property of William and John Brock, brothers and both of California.
     Approximately 100 feet in width and 2,640 feet in length will be needed to build the road through the Brocks' property, which is located outside the city limits, Daehling said.
     The Seward County Department of Roads will work on that part of the road and the city will complete the west part of the road, which is within city limits.
     The state had earlier suggested the road serve as a detour, but not be paved. However, the city and county joined together to fund the project as a paved road because it could keep the road as a bypass to route traffic, especially large trucks, around the city even after the Highway 15 project is complete. Recently, the city met with NDOR to request funding help for Izaak Walton Road, but is currently waiting for a response.
     Izaak Walton Road is planned to have two 12-foot paved lanes with eight-foot shoulders, which will not be paved, Daehling said.
     Currently, the segment of the road within the Brock property is waiting on approval of the land appraisal from NDOR.
     Chris Pawloski, project manager for Midwest Right of Way in Omaha, a company that has worked with Seward County for seven years, said that to acquire right of way it takes 10 steps.
     It begins when a project is received and given state approval, then Midwest Right of Way does a title search and verifies the title with the landowners. Next, there is a valuation process which includes an appraisal, a review of the appraisal and hiring two independent fee appraisers on the NDOR approved appraiser list.
     One appraiser does a fee appraisal and the other reviews it. Then, the appraisal goes through the local public agency coordinator review and approval of just compensation by NDOR. Next, the appraisal must be approved by the county or city government that it involves and; finally, the landowner can be presented with an offer.
     Pawloski said every parcel of land is different on the length of time it takes to approve, but the average is three months before an offer is ready to be presented to a landowner.
     Then, the landowner has the option to accept or reject the offer. If they reject the offer, they have the option of presenting a counteroffer, that is usually more successful if it is supported by data like a recent sale or a new appraisal by an approved appraiser, Pawloski said.
     If the county or city and the landowner do not come to an agreement, then the right of way enters an eminent domain process, in which a judge determines the amount to be paid to acquire right of way. Once the county or city has paid the amount, construction may begin or in the case of the extension of Izaak Walton Road, the road can begin the pre-paving process.
     In the Oct. 2 Seward County commissioners' meeting, Daehling told the commissioners' that the county may have to go through a condemnation, or the eminent domain process, with the Brock brothers if an agreement was not reached because it is important that the county move forward preparing a detour for the Highway 15 expansion.
     William Brock of Corona, Calif., said that their family has worked to support economic development in Seward County for four generations.
     The village of Goehner was named after his great-great grandfather, J.F. Goehner. The Brock property, which is west of Highway 15, has been in his family for four generations. The property is currently up for sale.
     He said his family also helped to bring the railroad, which is currently located south of the Brocks' property and expanding to a double-track.
     The Brock brothers sold part of their property to Seward for the wastewater treatment plant and Brock said he suggested the property that is up for sale as a site for the county to build its new jail.
     "The property has been in my family for over 100 years," Brock said. "For all those years, we have wanted to help develop Seward."
     Brock, who is retired, hired Bill Blake, an attorney at Baylor Evnen in Lincoln, to handle his land agreements in Seward County.
     Brock said he thought the right of way process with Izaak Walton Road would take the same amount of time as it did when he sold the land to the city for the wastewater treatment plant, which took approximately eight years to complete. The land agreement between the Brock brothers and the county has been in-the-works since Jan. 1, 2007 .
     The extension of Izaak Walton Road will add value to the property and may attract new buyers, Brock said. However, he said the Highway 15 expansion project has been going on for a long time and wonders when it will be complete.
     "This road project has been talked about and dropped and talked about and dropped," he said.
     Berlowitz said that with the expansion project being postponed until 2011 or beyond it will give the city and county more time to work with land and business owners.
     "If there are issues, it gives us plenty of time to iron it out," Berlowitz said. "You want to address those issues way ahead."