Omaha vs. Lincoln (Papillion, York: homes, work, business)

[mattpoulsen]

Isayos,

I've lived in Lincoln for about 10 years and can honestly say that Omaha has a much much better road system. Lincoln's system is setup for a city about 1/2 its size. During rush hours it can take 40 minutes to get across town. The road infrastructure is probably my biggest problem with Lincoln. However, they are working on it, so hopefully in the next 10 years we'll see improvement.

[Isaysos]

Steve, not all older neighborhoods are run down and full of gangs. Lincoln and St. Paul have many nice, older neighborhoods that arent run down because they didnt build freeways through them and people didnt abandon them for the suburbs. Just because their old, dosnt mean we should give up on them and move eveything to the burbs. Believe me, if your going to build a large freeway system like they did up here in the Twin Cities, they will just get congested as the burbs sprawl out into infiniti (becasue of the freeways) and you will be sitting in traffic alot longer than you do at a stop light. (it takes me 45 minutes - an hour to get from my place on the W side of St. Paul to my friends in Shakopee most days, taking the freeway (4-5 lanes on each side) and its only 30 miles away! New freeways may solve the problem for a while, but they are also an incintive for people to move further out, thus causing more traffic.

[Steve_W]

Isaysos,
I thought you were making a direct reference to the North Freeway which splits a crime riddled area of North Omaha. I agree and Omaha has many very nice older neighborhoods. Only point is progress needs to happen at the expense of any neighborhood for the health of a city in general. Healthy cities are ones which can breathe easily through forms of annexation and transportation infrastructure. Your own personal quality of living will be a direct result of one cities economy which relies greatly on its transportation systems. So basically what im saying is we should pave the entire city of Omaha(not really but i think i made my point)

[aerahrtlu]

It takes me about 30 minutes to get from my apartment near 14th and Old Cheney to Havelock in rushhour. Not the funnest when I'm in a hurry, but doable.
I'm not really sure how long it takes you to get across town in Omaha, maybe I should ask my cousin, who lives there.
Except for the street debate about which city has better ones... what about neighborhoods, economy, and job market? Things like that?
Anyone?

[Isaysos]

Well Steve, I guess if you call endless urban sprawl, girdlocked freeways, and a detiorated inner community progress, then by all means, keep building freeways like the Twin Cities did. You will end up just like us, one big stinkin, traffic clogged, suburban mess that runs from River Falls WI to Hutchinson, MN or St. Cloud to Northfield (80-90 miles and growing!) while the whole metro area becomes less dense and car dependent.

[Steve_W]

umm, I highly doubt omaha will ever become an 80-90 mile suburban mess. Omaha is constantly rated in the top 10 most dense north american cities. City planners in Omaha must have been doing something right so far. I think this thread is way off base at this point. Im simply saying Lincoln has grown too large now to not have some sort of a freeway to breeze through the city. It has nothing to do with suburban sprawl, the city is already to damn big to be without it. Lincoln will have to be awarded a huge FEDERAL grant someday to fund the freeway because a substantial part of the city will have to be leveled for it. I dont think taxpayers around the US would be too happy to know they are fitting the bill for poor city planning because of the small town mindset of Lincoln officials. Its much to obvious at this point for you to even say im wrong on this issue. Freeways, when designed and built responsibly, are designed to alleviate congestion PERIOD.....there I even added a couple more periods for ya

[Isaysos]

New freeways have eveything to do with sprawl because they are the modes of transportation that cause sprawl!! History has illustrated this fact time and time again! I think it would be horrible to plow a freeway through Lincoln. It would destroy completely livable neighborhoods. (was North Omaha worse before or after they built a freeway through it?) As far as Omaha becoming an 80-90 mile suburban mess, I wouldnt be so sure. I remember 20 years ago when Shakopee and Belle Plaine (35 and 45 miles sw of Minneapolis) were a small farming towns, far away from the city. They built 169 into a freeway, low and behold, traffic clogged freeway in the midst of a suburban mess. Im just speaking from experience. I like the fact that Lincoln can maintian its density and hope Omaha can to, even though that is starting to sprawl past Papillion and Gretna to. Same thing, different metro area. I dont know whats more sad, the fact that Omaha is sprawling down I-80, or that people like you are encouraging it. I guess youll find the negative consequences of this out for yourself if you still live there in 25-30 years. Believe it or not, we still have people here in the Twin Cities that still think more freeways and further out suburbs will help ease or traffic congestion problems.
Oh, and Google "Robert Moses" or "Jane Jacobs", I think you will find it both educational and interesting.

[kosnebbear]

Steve_W,

Have you been away for awhile? Do you not know that Lincoln will be getting a beltway around Lincoln in the future? The land has already been purchased. Plans are being made to connect I-80 with Hwy 2, which already a four lane highway from Nebraska City to Lincoln. The south leg from I-80 to NE Hwy 2 is going to follow, I think 120th Street, just west of Crooked Creek Golf Course, on the east side of Lincoln. From Hwy 2 it will go south west toward Saltillo Road heading toward US Hwy 77 Then they will connect NE Hwy 2/I-80 to US Hwy 77, which is already a four lane highway from Beatrice to Lincoln and I-80. They are at this time making overpasses on US Hwy 77 in order to make this into a belt way. This will take the big trucks off the streets of Lincoln that are just passing through, which is the major problem of the traffic congestion, other than the ones who come to Lincoln who don't know how to get around a city without a freeway. They already have the federal dollars to do this so where have you been? So little old Lincoln will have it's freeway for individuals who think that you can't have a great city without a freeway. So you will be able to get around Lincoln much easier in the future.

[Steve_W]

lol shame on me for not knowing that piece of information. Once again this conversation is off base. I SIMPLY SAID CITIES LINCOLNS SIZE ARE BETTER WITH SOME FORM OF FREEWAY TRANSPORTATION (MAYBE A BELTWAY). Freeways which span the country side to connect with another city I agree encourage sprawl. A beltway would only keep through traffic off neighborhood streets (which is a problem in Lincoln) and encourage larger corporations and other various economic benefits to the area. Large corporations look for business friendly cities and business friendly cities are ones in which have a vision for the future. A vision for the future would not include to assume the city does not and will never be in need of a freeway. Freeways are built in every industrialized nation's cities for a reason. Cities need to have a vision for growth and prosperity also while doing it responsibly and environmentally friendly. Also, don’t compare Nebraska to Minn. We have very few cities surrounding Omaha or Lincoln big enough to spur any sort of growth to cause major sprawl. This topic was started in the sake of Lincoln needing a freeway and LOOK....it’s getting one! Your also probably better off not trying to belittle me by offering your "educational" literature. Im not interested.

[Steve_W]

Oh darn, maybe I am wrong. I almost forgot Lincoln does not want to encourage any large corporations to locate there. (it may bring in outsiders who dont like the huskers)--Go Lincoln!