Jeff Hajny

    Changes are being made on Highways 34 and 15 that will help drivers pay more attention.
     On Highways 34 and 15, Garcia-Chicoine Enterprises out of Lincoln is putting rumble bars onto the shoulders of each side of the road.
     The bars on Highway 34 are slated to extend from the Lancaster-Seward County line to the Platte River by Grand Island.
     On Highway 15, the bars will extend from north of the interstate to the Platte River by Columbus.
     "There are a lot of drivers out there who don't pay attention," Mark Tranowitz, District Construction Engineer of the State Highway Dept., said. "This project will hopefully help that."
     The project started in November 2007 and is scheduled to be finished in November 2008.
     As of now, Carcia-Chicoine is finishing nearly five miles a day and will continue at that pace until warmer weather hits the state.
     This project is one of many rumble bar projects being administered throughout the state.
     Other highways receiving rumble bars include Highways 92 which moves from Lyman, Wyo., to Omaha; Highway 33, which moves from west of Dorchester to west of Roca; and Highway 103, which moves through Pleasant Dale and Crete.
     The total cost for the project for Highways 34 and 15 is $223,000.
     The projects for the other highways have comparable prices.
     "This is a safety project," Tranowitz said. "It's being done for the travelling public. We're not making the streets wider, we're making them safer. Sometimes we don't pay attention to the road we are on, and hopefully this project will change that."