Federal grant to help build cross-campus bike, pedestrian trail

A federal grant received by the City of Omaha will have a big impact on the UNMC Omaha campus.

The $13.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will help construct a new pedestrian/bike trail on the Omaha campus, said Brian Spencer, executive director of campus development and planning for UNMC and Nebraska Medicine.

The project, called the Midtown Medical Center Bikeway Connection, will run the length of the UNMC campus and better connect it to existing bike trails.

“Thousands of people move around campus every day,” he said. “This project is going to allow those who are pedestrians and cyclists to come from one end of the campus to the other in a safe and protected way. It’s a big step in further improving access to the med center for our Travelsmart participants and those choosing to commute using alternative transportation.”

The grant will fund construction of two pedestrian walkways, over Saddle Creek Road and Leavenworth Street, that will connect the campus to the Field Club Trail and, through that, to the Keystone and Papio trails, Spencer said.

“This also means that the new Saddle Creek campus will have a safe pedestrian crossing.”

Bikers still will have to cross 42^nd Street and 45^th Street near the Durham Research Center, but the light signal at 42^nd will be reworked to have a bike and pedestrian “no car movement” window, Spencer said. He added that bicyclists at the 45^th Street intersection will be on the south side of the road, so traffic interference should be minimal.

“These funds are critical to connecting our campus to a larger transportation ecosystem that supports more sustainable options for our students, staff and colleagues traveling to and from the med center,” said Jerrod Bley, campus sustainability manager. “This project will further support our campus’ transportation goal of converting at least 35% of campus commuter trips to modes other than single occupancy vehicles.”

In fact, Bley said, the campus already surpassed this goal as of late 2022, and the expansion project will help achieve an even more ambitious goal for 2030.

“This project is where the rubber meets the road, and we can help drive the transition of our campus and city toward a healthier, cleaner, more resilient and accessible future for all,” he said.

Spencer estimated that the project could be complete as early as 2026.

The award is part of a record $50 million received by Nebraska from the 2023 Transportation Alternatives Project Federal Grant Program, according to the Nebraska Department of Transportation, which oversees the funding for the state.

Created in 1991, the grant program is administered by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration and helps local communities fund a variety of smaller-scale infrastructure projects that support alternate modes of transportation, such as safe routes to school, recreational trails and traffic improvements.