FAIRBURY, NE — Traveling in the Fairbury area is about to get more difficult.

Nebraska Highway 15, the main road heading north out of town, will be shut down for 45 days starting June 8th as part of ongoing construction.  Project Manager Bob Hinrichs says the project includes removing two bridges and replacing them with box culverts.

“They were in a state of disrepair,” Hinrichs said.  “The box culverts are actually cheaper to be placed in there and to maintain. The Corps felt the box culverts could handle the water flow going through there without the bridges.”

The project actually started in September with work building the box culverts.  The project will continue until November, but the highway closure is scheduled to end by July 24th.  After that, the work will be less disruptive.

“Our hopes are to have both lanes open,” Hinrichs said. “It may be something where we have to use a traffic signal at one of the locations and leave it to one lane, but our goal is to have both lanes open after 45 days.”

The Department of Transportation recommends a 48-mile detour using US Highway 136 and Nebraska Highway 4 to cut through Beatrice.  Drivers could also choose to use Highway 53 or county roads.

Werner Construction of Hastings holds the contract for the project at $6.34 million.  The shutdown was originally set for June 1 but was delayed because of weather.