Nebraska bridge closure has farmers upset, man boats son to school

The flooding in Nebraska continues to be a burden on many people living in the state. The Spencer Dam broke mid-March, and this is still causing problems for many living nearby. The Niobrara River flooded extensively and washed out many Nebraska roads and bridges.

Near the town of Niobrara, the biggest problem right now is a bridge out on the west side of town. The bridge on Highway 12 is going to be out until August.

For one family, a boat has been the answer to get 9-year-old Jacob Motacek to school on time. His dad Austin loads him up in their neighbor’s boat, and since the bridge is out, it saves the family nearly 50 minutes every day. Jacob’s mom, Katie Ryan, also rides along. She works at Niobara Public School.

"It's interesting every morning. I have to dress nice for school, so trying to cover all that up, and then change out of mud boots and all of that when we get to the top is interesting every day,” Ryan said.

The shallow, fast-moving, winding Niobrara River bridge washout is causing major headaches for anyone who needs to access town from the west. It’s the main access to town, and if detours are muddy because of rain, it makes travel extremely difficult.

It’s affecting many others at Niobrara Public School. Olivia and Ashtyn Holz are sisters who are staying in town because otherwise it would take them longer than an hour to get to school.

"It's hard. We don't get to talk to our parents very much,” Olivia said.

Some Niobrara teachers have been carpooling to get to class every day. Others have also been staying in town with friends or in rented homes.

Getting to school is one thing, but for farmers and ranchers, their livelihood is at stake.

"Most our neighbors have livestock on both sides,” farmer Jo Cameron said when referring to the Highway 12 bridge.

"It's devastating on the farmers that have cattle on this side and cattle on the other side. It's the worst time of year because it's calving season, and they have to be with the cattle every couple hours, and then trying to get hay, the only access we have is getting in from the west," Austin Motacek said.

"It's been a nightmare,” farmer Kent Snowdon said.

"It's probably costing us $50 a day. Our big truck gets about five miles to the gallon. It's 140 miles round trip to get to cattle. That adds up really fast,” Mary Snowdon said.

The Snowdon’s live about five minutes from where the Highway 12 bridge washed away.

The Nebraska Department of Transportation says a temporary bridge will not be in place until August.

"People sometimes don't know, and we are just learning as we go too. we need about a 600 ft. long bridge for just a temporary one. That kind of temporary bridge that can hold legal loads and serve the public for a long period of time is just not out there where you can get it in place tomorrow,” Moe Jamshidi said.

Jamshidi is the Deputy Director of Operations for the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

Deputy Director Jamshidi has over 30 years of experience in transportation. Some think there has to be a way to get something up quicker than that.

"I know when they built this canal bridge they put a shoefly in here in about a week, and that's all they would have to do again, and we could walk across. Back in the 60s they put a bridge in. As long as they could just get us something to walk across the river, and I could have a vehicle across the other side,” Snowdon said.

Snowdon has cattle on both sides of Niobrara.

The DOT says because of the way ice jams washed the bridge away, components of the bridge would have to be fixed before anything could be put in place. When asked about a walking bridge, Jamshidi said it is not possible.

"Even if we could find a long enough walking bridge, there is no way people can go to it,” he said.

At this point, the timeline stands. August 1, 2019 is when traffic will be able to access a temporary bridge on Highway 12, weather permitting.

"When you are dealing with major structures like this. It's amazing how long it takes. We have crunched a two year project into literally two months,” Jamshidi said.

“For the people who have cattle on both sides, this extra commute, they are losing livestock, nothing makes that up," Cameron said.

NDOT's leadership team recently traveled to Niobrara to speak with the community on their concerns and disaster response timelines. Additionally, NDOT's District Three Engineer, Kevin Domogalla, is in constant contact with emergency managers and other officials in the area regarding concerns. For more information on the timeline:

KSFY phonecall with Deputy Moe Jamshidi:

Question: What has the state decided to do to fix the bridge?

Jamshidi: We were up there not to long ago. Our game plan hasn’t really changed all that much. Our goal is to repair the one of two bridges that is still there. So far we’ve been making an assessment on how much repair that bridge needs to carry a legal load. Then we are planning on building a temporary bridge over the bridge that washed out over the Mormon Canal. Then we will be asking out contractor to construct that bridge. Then while that traffic is moving back and forth over the temporary they will start the construction on the final solution to the another bridge on the original alignment that we have.

Question: Why is no one there working on a temporary fix right now? Why is it going to take so long to get a temporary fix?

Jamshidi: Temporary bridge to that size, some people don’t know that we need about a 600 ft. long for just a temporary one. That kind of temporary bridge that can hold legal loads and serve the public for a long period of time is just not out there where you can go pick it up and put it in place tomorrow. We have been working with our suppliers, and I know for some people it’s very frustrating that no one is there, but we are making a tremendous amount of progress getting suppliers ready for this particular site. When the contractor is identified, one of the first orders of business is to bring the parts for that particular bridge. It’s going to take several trucks just to bring the temporary bridge over and make it fit for this site. Though it looks like no one is working there, we are just working on a plan, so we can hire a contractor to come out there and get the job done. Once we get them under contract, the real construction will begin in June sometime.

Question: You hope to have the temporary bridge there by August?

Jamshidi: We hope to have traffic on the temporary bridge by August 1. In our business it’s all weather permitting. Rain can push the plans back. Our goal with our contractors is early August.

Question: Is there a possibility to use something there right now like a walking bridge?

Jamshidi: When we were out in the community that question came up. I told them I have gone personally there, and it really is not possible. The west abutment of the big bridge is totally washed out. There is no connection, even if we could find a long enough walking bridge, there’s no way these people can go to it until we repair the existing bridge that is there on the east side of the Mormon Canal, there’s no connection. It would really be a waste of time because people can’t go anywhere. To repair that bridge, we need a contractor in place.

Question: I reached out to Governor Kristi Noem about a float bridge that Nebraska reached out about. Noem’s office said: Nebraska inquired about having a SD National Guard engineering unit assemble a 600’ float bridge across the Niobrara on March 29. We provided logistical estimates, they never requested anything further. They were exploring multiple options and must have went another route.

Jamshidi: I’m not sure exactly what float bridge they are talking about, but we felt a floating bridge in that location would not be a good idea because the fluctuation in water elevation. If they are talking about a floating footbridge with the National Guard, we ruled that out for the same reason I just told you (see above.) There would be no access to any bridge until we repair the bridge that is there. The floating bridge was not a good fit. You could have bridge but no connection.

Question: When you say no connection, is it because the existing end on the east side that is already there?

Jamshidi: The end of the long bridge over the Niobrara on the west side is totally washed out, and the bridge itself, the ice jams have moved components of the bridge itself that need to be straightened out. Until those repairs are done, we can’t open it to live traffic. Until we get a contractor hired, we can’t do anything.

Additional comments from Deputy Jamshidi: “I went to the area personally twice. My first impression, I was looking at such devastation that I have never witnessed, and I have worked for the department over 35 years. For them, for life to get back to normal, we have a long way to go to get them there. I came back, and told all of our people, we are really around the clock working for them. It’s devastating. I went and looked at Highway 12 east of that town, and the contractor we put in place almost a day after the flood, he was working day and night. We finally got that one open. I was hoping we could get it that quickly on the west side, but when you are dealing with major structures like this, it’s amazing how long it can take. We have crunched a two year project into about two months to get the same thing out there to contractors.”