- A street closure on 84th in La Vista has prompted drivers to take detours into residential neighborhoods.
- Some neighbors are worried about speeding, especially since they say there are a large population of children in the area.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A road closure on 84th Street South in La Vista is rerouting drivers through residential neighborhoods, and some residents say it is causing dangerous speeding near children.
The city says the closure is part of a project to expand pedestrian access to a developing area of La Vista.
"Basically it will provide access from Central Park to Central Park West. Central Park West will have a future aquatic center, a community green space area...that will allow for future parking for the park and also the future city center area," Joe Soucie said.
When construction began, crews discovered soil stability issues beneath the roadway that could delay the project.
"Under the roadway we were losing dirt because everything was covered up with pavement. So we made some educated guesses and tried to build some edges with the asphalt and get the water moved. Just didn't take care of the problem...continued to lose soil under that area," Soucie said.
The city says it will be able to address the soil issue when work begins on the north side of 84th Street, but that work is not expected to start for another 60 days.
In the meantime, drivers are taking detours through residential streets, and neighbors say the increased traffic is creating a safety hazard.
"So they come down here, and they just speed up and down the street. And we have kids on their bikes...on their scooters...stopping so they don't get hit...people I think are just unfamiliar here with this road and the speed limit. But I have to escort them because people just zip up and down the streets," Ashley Baruth said.
The city is asking drivers to use 72nd or 96th Street until 84th Street returns to two-way traffic.
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