By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com

The Second Street widening project is set to get under way in earnest on Monday, weather permitting. The very nature of the project and its detours will force some 18,000 vehicles that normally travel Second Street, also known as Highway 30, to go around the construction zone through November.

Another 9,900 vehicles that travel on Broadwell Avenue between Second and Third will also face detours in the coming months.

The $4.5 million project will add a common turn lane from Grant to Greenwich Street and also will improve the drainage on the highway by increasing water inlets from 30 marginally functional inlets to 74 high-capacity ones.

The water issue has long plagued the street and created a plethora of potholes.

But before the roadway is better, it will become a challenge for motorists, said Scott Griepenstroh, Nebraska Department of Roads project manager.

He has already seen a car drive straight through freshly poured concrete as preparatory work was completed during the past few weeks.

"A (construction) cone or two or three or 40 or 50 or 400, like we have out there overwhelms people," Griepenstroh said.

He's advising motorists to allow more travel time in getting across Grand Island. He also wants motorists to be watchful for lane changes as the project progresses.

To aid in knowing about those changes, the Department of Roads will be releasing weekly construction updates to The Independent.

Those updates will be displayed in map form every Sunday on the weather page. That page is usually 6-B but always can be found as the last page of the B section.

Griepenstroh urged the public to use First Street and side streets as much as possible to access businesses on the south side of Second Street. Businesses on the north side can be accessed from Second, Third and side streets.

Griepenstroh also stressed the importance of keeping Third Street traffic flowing particularly through the Third and Broadwell intersection, where traffic tends to back up while waiting for Union Pacific trains to cross.

If motorists begin to block Third and Broadwell, Griepenstroh said, law enforcement will be called in to issue citations.

The first phase of the project, which is the rebuilding of the south side of Second Street, is expected to continue through June.

The north lanes are expected to be reconstructed in July through November.

Details of what to watch for in Week 1 of the project can be found in today's paper on Page 6-B.