Lincoln South Beltway brings concerns for rural fire departments

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The Lincoln South Beltway’s goal is to ease traffic through the city but rural fire departments now have some new challenges.

First responders south of town said overall the Beltway is a good thing but any emergencies that happen on it add to an already busy workload.

The idea of the road project was to give semis a different route, instead of bogging down the commute through the capital city, but it could pose problems.

“I think the primary impact is the potential for an increase in call volume,” said Art Robertson, Hickman Rural’s fire chief.

Robertson’s departments’ jurisdiction happens to fall within that new stretch of road. They cover about eight miles of it, from Highway 77 to 82nd Street. Robertson is preparing for crashes and medical emergencies on that stretch.

“We envision there probably will be some winter-related accidents,” Robertson said.

While the Beltway will also allow them to transport patients to Lincoln’s hospital quicker Robertson said there is already a lot on the volunteer department’s plate.

“Our call volume is starting to grow faster than our staff,” Robertson said.

For about the last four years those volumes have been going up about 10% each year.

This year, they’ve already had 331 calls, that’s 15% more than all of 2021.

“This first winter is going to kind of be a trial to see how things are going to shake out,” Robertson said. “The highway department obviously has a plan in place for maximizing the safety of that conditions but you know we live in Nebraska.”

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