Humphrey Emergency Responders weigh in on RCUT construction

The intersection of Nebraska Highway 91 and US Highway 81 has a notorious reputation in the local community of Humphrey.

“That intersection is just so screwed up. There are too many signs, there are no off-ramps, which is very stupid. I mean there’s all kind of room to build off-ramps," says Tom Preston, a Humphrey farmer and truck driver who regularly crosses the intersection for work.

To help curb the rate of accidents that occur at the intersection, the Nebraska Department of Transportation green-lit the construction of an RCUT at that intersection.

Construction is planned to begin in July, but reactions have not been very positive.

“My first impressions are, I don’t think it’s going to work," Preston said. "There’s a lot of things they can do, but they don’t have to spend millions of dollars to do it," 

Local emergency responders recognize the danger the intersection currently poses.

“As a department, we’ve responded to many fatalities out there, many bad wrecks. You can sit out there at any given day and see a near miss about every hour," said Humphrey Fire Chief Jim Hebenka.

While the RCUT is being implemented to make the area safer, emergency responders aren’t yet confident it will do the job.

“[Hypothetically,] there’s a truck coming from the west that wants to continue going east, he’s going to have to stop, and go south, and then make a U-turn, and go into merging traffic to make a right turn to go down 91. You’re going to expect him to get across two lanes of traffic and make a right turn? That’s gonna be pretty tough," Hebenka said.

Humphrey Rescue Captain Jim Wiehn said that, originally, an overpass was proposed years ago, but was declined by the department of transportation possibly due to the cost of implementation.

“What they’re telling us is they want to try this first before they do anything else. My understanding is this is the first one in Nebraska, so, Humphrey I guess is the guinea pig for this.”

“It’s the consensus of everybody that 99% of the people in town are against it.”

Rather than reduce accidents, Wiehn feels the RCUT will only rearrange where they take place -

“I think they’re going to be pushing the accidents north and south," Wiehn said. "Just thinking of where the RCUT is going to be, and semis trying to make U-turns, and oncoming traffic can’t see these trucks.”

“That car or vehicle is either going to hit the back end of the trailer or going to be underneath it.”

While Wiehn has his misgivings for the new construction, he does hope the RCUT will become a positive, if unexpected, success.

“You know, I hope for the state of Nebraska and for the community of Humphrey and all those who utilize 81 that this works," Wiehn said.