Large Nebraskan towns/small cities growth (Omaha, Lincoln: how much, subdivision, centers)

[Raphael07]

In City Limits pop.
Columbus went from 20,971 to 21,399 (+.4%)
Lexington went from 10,011 to 10,115 (+1.1%)
North Platte went from 23,878 to 24,079 (+1.1%)
Norfolk went from 23,146 to 23,516 (+1.5%)
The tri-cities have seemed to have boomed in the last 7 years.
Hastings went from 24,064 to 25,343 (+5.4%!)
Kearney went from 27,431 to 30,129 (+ 8.7%!)
and Grand Island went from 42,940 to 44,802 (+3%)


Scottsbluff however went from 14,732 to 14,692 (-.8%)
and Gering went from 7,751 to 7,645 (-1.7%)

Not that bad but I have to wonder why they aren't experiencing similar growth. And maybe when they get the Expressway done they will grow too. It seems like the Future is really bright for our Cities.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Go Ne

In City Limits pop.
Columbus went from 20,971 to 21,399 (+.4%)
Lexington went from 10,011 to 10,115 (+1.1%)
North Platte went from 23,878 to 24,079 (+1.1%)
Norfolk went from 23,146 to 23,516 (+1.5%)
The tri-cities have seemed to have boomed in the last 7 years.
Hastings went from 24,064 to 25,343 (+5.4%!)
Kearney went from 27,431 to 30,129 (+ 8.7%!)
and Grand Island went from 42,940 to 44,802 (+3%)


Scottsbluff however went from 14,732 to 14,692 (-.8%)
and Gering went from 7,751 to 7,645 (-1.7%)

Not that bad but I have to wonder why they aren't experiencing similar growth. And maybe when they get the Expressway done they will grow too. It seems like the Future is really bright for our Cities.

Yes, the future looks much better for micropolitan cities in Nebraska compared with Kansas.

[tpabes]

Not too suprised, although I wonder about Norfolk. I thought I saw an article awhile back that they lost something like 700 people when the factory closed. Yet, I could see Norfolk making up that loss.

[Raphael07]

What shocked me was the Tri Cities growth, very impressive.

[Dave1215]

Here is a good article on Norfolk following the job losses and what the real impact was.

Been there, done that | emporiagazette.com

[tpabes]

Originally Posted by Go Ne

What shocked me was the Tri Cities growth, very impressive.

Hastings suprised me the most. Kearney and Grand Island have had noticeable growth, but it seems like Hastings isn't putting up the housing like Kearney and Grand Island. But numbers don't lie.

[ehenningsen]

Grand Island's true growth is actually quite a bit better than that 3% posted, the city just needs to start annexing again!

The tri-cities is Nebraska's second largest market, behind Omaha/Lincoln and above Sioux City/So Sioux City.

[Chris19]

Most of Nebraska's regional centers are twice as big as South Dakota's and Nebraska obviously have more towns over 20K than South Dakota. Norfolk, Columbus, Hastings, Fremont, Kearney, and North Platte are in a similar league as Aberdeen (stagnant since the 60s but have been growing with a big infusion of jobs) and Watertown (growing steadily). South Dakota has a good chunk of its top 10 towns in the the 10-16K people range.

What will help cities such as Norfolk and Columbus in the future is further improvements in the highways leading into them. I wish for the success of Nebraska cities. I would like to see NE-35 get widened to a four-lane between South Sioux City and Norfolk, US 81 get widened between Columbus and York and Yankton, SD to Norfolk (ideally, but maybe off further than other talked about projects), Heartland expressway, US 275 widened to four lane between Freemont and Norfolk (which some of it is done), and US 30 widened between Columbus and Grand Island. Many of these projects have been mentioned before, but I think that they will be beneficial for the larger cities and improve transportation in Nebraska.

South Dakota is trying to do a similar program with the Heartland Expressway (which a good chunk is done south of Rapid City) and other streches. It completed US 12 between Aberdeen and I-29, SD 37 between Huron and Mitchell/I-90, US 83 between Pierre and I-90, and SD 79 between I-90 and Hot Springs (Heartland Expressway).

I have been through Nebraska many time and read the World Herald every now and then. I like going on US 81 between Norfolk and Columbus and south of I-80. US 77, US 30, and US 275 have been widened along with NE 2 between Lincoln and I-29. Also, a good chunk of the Heartland Expressway between Kimball and Scottsbluff is finished. The work is impressive, although more could be done, but is not unfortunately due to money (which is an issue with many places including SD these days).

It seems like Nebraska is more economically progressive than Kansas. But like South Dakota, its larger and regional centers (of 5,000 plus) and most of these cities have a good future. Optimism and hard work will help pave the way to a better future.

[IsThisOneTaken?]

Originally Posted by tpabes

Hastings suprised me the most. Kearney and Grand Island have had noticeable growth, but it seems like Hastings isn't putting up the housing like Kearney and Grand Island. But numbers don't lie.

I assume these numbers are indeed within the city limits? Hastings' growth is to the west of town toward Juniata. I don't know how much of that is in the city limits or not. I have a friend who IS in the city limits out there, yet has a Juniata mailing address. That is a little weird.

[tpabes]

Yeah, you're talking about the Westbrook Subdivision area. That area is kinda wierd with the address'. There is growth in that area, which shows in Adams Central's growing enrollment. I wish my memory was better, but when did Hastings annex the Lochland area? That could easily give its number for growth if it was fairley recent. This is assuming the first numbers where from the 2000 census.

GoNE, do you have Fremont's numbers?