LINCOLN- The state would have a new tool to help complete the long-delayed state expressway system, and other highway and bridge projects, under a bill that appears headed for approval in the Nebraska Legislature.

With little debate Monday, lawmakers gave 31-0 first-round approval for Legislative Bill 1016, which would allow the Nebraska Department of Transportation to enter into “progressive design-build” partnerships with companies to get projects done more quickly and at less cost.

State Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont said 32 other states now utilize such public-private partnerships. She said that by contracting with a company to design and build a freeway, then paying the company back over time, the state could get projects done more quickly. Walz said that would also save hundreds of thousands of dollars by avoiding the escalating costs of concrete and other materials.

“Interest payments are significantly less costly than inflation costs,” the senator said.

Currently, Nebraska highway projects are a “pay-as-you-go” proposition, Walz said, so LB 1016 gives the state another option to get construction work done sooner. The state cannot issue bonds to build roads under current law, the DOT has concluded, she said.

John Selmer, the director of the Nebraska DOT, testified in favor of LB 1016 during a public hearing in February.

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