By 2007, fewer Fords, Hondas and Jeeps will cut through the UNMC campus or travel down 42nd Street to reach their destination.
The University of Nebraska Board of Regents today approved an agreement with the City of Omaha for the modification of public streets in the campus vicinity. The project calls for improving the intersection at 42nd Street and Leavenworth to permit north and southbound left turns to give vehicles an easier way around the UNMC campus, as well as modifying 42nd Street between Leavenworth and Harney streets from four lanes to three lanes and improving traffic signal coordination.
The goal: To calm and decrease non-business vehicular traffic on and around the medical center campus.
“Additional construction and campus growth has resulted in a significant increase in vehicular traffic accessing roads on and adjacent to the UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center campus,” said Ron Schaefer, director of UNMC Facilities Planning & Construction. “This project will decrease the non-business vehicular traffic, improve pedestrian safety and provide safer and more efficient access to and from campus for our students, faculty and visitors.”
An engineering study is planned to determine project costs, which are currently estimated at $2.5 million. The costs, which will be shared by UNMC and its partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, will be presented to the regents in March or April. Construction would begin following formal approval by the Omaha City Council and is expected to complete by early December.
Schaefer said almost 76,000 vehicular trips are made in and out of campus on a given day, according to campus traffic studies done earlier with HDR Inc. of Omaha. Of those, about 45,000 had business at the medical center. The project is expected to reduce traffic between 10 percent and 20 percent, Schaefer said.
The project is one of several that HDR recommended to calm traffic in and around the medical center. Other recommendations included calming traffic on Emile Street with speed tables and improved signage and improving the Saddle Creek Road and Dodge Street intersection.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through its commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology, ophthalmology and arthritis. UNMC’s research funding from external sources is now more than $72 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state.