The state of Nebraska is short on labor..

[SurfOmaha]

Maybe Nebraska should get completing its portion of that Heartland Expressway. That should help bring jobs to western Nebraska.

[HighPlainsDrifter73]

Originally Posted by SCGranny

Hi, Ehenningsen (and a shout out to tpabes)! I've missed ya'll but the house and property took a lot of work to get it ready for winter.

Y'know, we've been so busy that we have yet to leave the county to explore Omaha or even Lincoln. We made it to North Platte once. But there is just so much to do locally - not just on our own little place, but all of the get togethers and socials and of course FOOTBALL - that we have been homebodies. I haven't seen a Wendy's in months, nor a Starbucks at all. And that's the way I like it. )

I am really worried about the economy driving people to NE, though. I've seen it before - people losing jobs or working at underpaying jobs, 'discovering' a place that has jobs and low-priced property, and swooping in trying to change it to suit their needs and wants. I'm praying that the long cold winters and miles of "empty" land scares them off. As long as the view from the interstates is flat and boring, we might be safe from them. My new job doesn't have insurance (which is ok; I prefer to pay cash, it actually comes out cheaper overall) and I hear that a lot of jobs east of here don't pay insurance either. Those looking for that safety net, and hearing about the high property taxes, may be put off Nebraska by that as well. One can only hope... )

I hear you SC about people flocking to 'undiscovered' areas. I bought some acreage earlier this year up in Williston, ND to eventually build a home and relocate to. Apart from this area going through a huge oil boom, I'm hoping that the town and county are not a big magnet for a lot of people. I don't want it to change and become what I'm trying to leave behind.

But same for me up in NoDak. Hopefully the long miles of nothing and the ferocious winters will keep out the riff-raff. The nearest Interstate to Williston is 80 miles away, so that's probably a good thing.

[Opacity]

I'm looking to move to Nebraska for a period of time to work on a farm, so this type of data is good to hear.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by SurfOmaha

Maybe Nebraska should get completing its portion of that Heartland Expressway. That should help bring jobs to western Nebraska.

Eh, that should be good for the Panhandle between Kimball and Scottsbluff.

[DarlaH]

We actually have quite a few jobs right now. The hospital has 130 openings, Aurora just hired 60 and is looking for 30 more, The new Menards store will open in January and is looking for 130 people. Chili's is opening soon and is hiring. There are about 300 open positions in Scottsbluff and Gering right now and even with the current economy, the numbers will increase. Regional West is recruiting 25 physicians to the area over the next 5 years. The community just passed a bond issue to renovate the middle school. Lots of good things going on!!

[Chris19]

Originally Posted by SurfOmaha

Maybe Nebraska should get completing its portion of that Heartland Expressway. That should help bring jobs to western Nebraska.

I agree with the finishing of Neraska's portion of the Heartland Expressway. South Dakota has a good chunk done and has another 20 or 30 miles to go until its portion is done and that will be in a couple years. I have been on the completed stretch between Rapid City and Hot Springs in June and the road is NICE.

My understanding is that the Heartland Expressway is supposed to link up with the another corridor that would go north from Rapid City up to Williston, ND and then up to Canada via NE Montana. To the South, I understand that the corridor would fork off and one fork goes to Denver and the other to Limon, where it would meet up with the Ports to the Plains corridor, which would lead down to Amarillo and even down to Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley.

As for building more corridors in Western Nebraska, the traffic volume in other areas of the pandhandle would not justify building one and I forsee the Heartland Express not getting done for a good 10 years or so at least given the funding issues that many states are facing with their highway funding.

[amgor863]

Re: City people coming in and demanding Walmart and Starbucks...

Real cities don't have Walmart and real "city people" don't go to Starbucks...! lol.