Nebraska Department of Roads

About Nebraska Department of Roads

A state highway crosses the Republican River just outside Arapahoe, a low bridge that catches wind off the water and holds ice longer than the open road on either side of it. Nebraska Department of Roads keeps that stretch clear through the winter, running plows ahead of the morning commute so the bridge deck and the roads leading to it stay passable through Furnas County's harder storms. A fast-moving front here can drop visibility to almost nothing for an hour and then clear off just as quickly, so the crews often work in short, hard pushes rather than one long shift. Farm trucks and school buses depend on that stretch of road being open by first light, whatever the night brought in. By morning, the route through town and out across the river sits scraped and sanded, ready for the day's traffic.