Around the first of the year, the City of Lincoln received discouraging news that bids for a long-awaited expansion of Fifth Street Road on the west side of town were way over budget.

Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch calls this the project that never ends as they have long been looking to renovate and expand the road in a busy area of town. They had plans for an expansive project until bids earlier this year came in disappointingly high. 

According to Mayor Welch, since those bids came in very high, the City has done a re-evaluation of where it is at financially, what possible state matching dollars they might lose out on, and what are the utmost priority issues of the road.

Drainage issues, a narrow road, and a breaking down road are just a few of the issues that road has and Mayor Welch says those will likely be the main priorities for the now partial scope of the project they will be able to complete.

Mayor Welch does not anticipate widening the road as much as they anticipated. However, they plan to resurface with a lasting material that will likely get done over a couple of phases.

He believes while the improvements are not what they had initially planned, they are still going to have a nice road when it is all said and done.