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La Vista wants NDOT to give up control of 84th street

Posted at 5:34 PM, May 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-23 18:58:34-04

Besides building a whole new downtown, the City of La Vista also wants to make a few changes to 84th Street from Harrison Street to Giles Road. 

"We really wanted to make it a memorable experience for people who come through LaVista," said Mayor Doug Kindig. 

Some ideas include a bridge, wider sidewalks, trees in the medians and signage, "84th street is still the heart of the city so we want to be able to have connectability to the rest of our neighborhoods and we think the street-scape will tie that together," said Kindig. 

But there may be some obstacles because they can only do so much because the street also acts as a state highway. 

"They are more restrictive than what we can do on 84th street, they control the speed limit, it might be we want to lower the speed limit 10 miles an hour," said Kindig, "When those rules or laws were put into place, there wasn't a whole lot out here and that highway now is the main arterials through the city."

Kindig said they still have an "Option B" if they don't get the right to the street but believes the state should consider the economic benefits of giving up control, "We truly think this is a big part of revitalizing 84th street and when we have economic growth the state also has economic growth."

The Nebraska Department of Transportation tells 3 News Now it will look into a request the city sent last week for relinquishment and hold discussions with the City of La Vista on whether or not it will give up control of that section of 84th Street. 

"We're hopeful and we'll wait their decision on that," added Kindig. 

No matter which way this goes, Kindig said he hopes to start the renovation process by the end of the year.