City Hall: Lincoln officials want to enlist UNL to solve traffic snarls at railroad crossing

Efforts to use technology to let motorists know when trains will be crossing busy intersections isn't new — and local officials want to enlist the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to renew work to find a solution.

Roger Figard, executive director of the Railroad Transportation Safety District, a political subdivision that provides funding for railroad safety projects in Lincoln and Lancaster County, recently told the board he thinks using UNL is a better option than investing in technology developed at Texas A&M University.

Andrew Foust, state director for a transportation labor union, has appealed to both the City Council and RTSD board to invest in Texas A&M's technology.

Two state senators also appealed to local officials to look into it because of increased rail traffic since BNSF Railway resumed service along the rail line that heads east from Hobson Yard to the southwest along Nebraska Parkway.

The RTSD recently abandoned efforts to establish a quiet zone along the area. The long, expensive process requires various safety equipment that would allow trains not to blow their horns as they approach the crossings as federal law requires.

Figard and a Lincoln Transportation and Utilities employee recently went to Fremont to check out the Texas A&M system used there.

They told the RTSD board they saw a number of issues with the system, so they called in local experts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"We weren't overly impressed with the Texas A&M System in Fremont," Figard said. "It seemed only appropriate that we ought to be using the opportunity to work with our own university rather than someone in Texas."

Aemal Khattak, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor and director of the UNL Mid-America Transportation Center, told the RTSD board there have been previous efforts to deploy a similar type of technology.

Twenty years ago, UNL worked on an advance notice system for an intersection in South Sioux City, but railroad officials wouldn't allow sensors in the railroad right of way.

The city of Lincoln created an advance notice system for the crossing near 27th Street and Nebraska Parkway, but Khattak didn't think it was ever put into use, and UNL made strides to develop a system several years ago until they ran out of resources.

They did a short test of the system before research ended that indicated motorists would take alternative routes if they had advance warning, Khattak said. And he'd like to take up the research again.

New technology is now available to update work they did earlier, he said, and they'd like to work with the city, RTSD and the Nebraska Department of Roads, which has research grants available.

Figard said they'd like to apply for the research dollars and would include local emergency responders in the work. If they got the funding, Khattak said, they'd be ready to start the research next spring.

Foust said he worries about the time and cost involved in having UNL develop a system and said the Texas A&M system has been improved since Fremont installed the one there.

But it appears the RTSD will work with UNL to apply for the research money and go from there.

Historic preservation

A loss for the beleaguered Nebraska State Historical Society is a gain for the city of Lincoln.

Jill Dolberg, who spent 24 years at the Nebraska State Historical Society, is the city's new historic preservation planner. She replaces Stephanie Rouse, who recently moved to the city's Urban Development Department.

Dolberg is among a number of employees who recently left the state agency, which has been mired in controversy in recent years.

She'd taken over as interim director after former director Trevor Jones left and resigned just before Gov. Jim Pillen appointed Cindy Drake as the interim director.

Drake's appointment was one of Pillen's first major steps since the Legislature rewrote state law to put the agency under the governor's control instead of running under an independent board.

Legislators changed the law after a state audit questioned how the former director used $270,000 in private funds intended to help the agency offset pandemic losses. Jones now faces a felony theft charge of misappropriating the money into a new foundation account rather than using it for pandemic relief.

The agency, which Jones renamed History Nebraska, has reclaimed its old name: the Nebraska State Historical Society.

And Dolberg, who spent most of her time at the agency working in the historical preservation office, is now with the city, where it all started for her.

When she was a student at Nebraska Wesleyan, she had an internship with Ed Zimmer, the city's longtime historic preservation officer.

"I had a wonderful summer researching Wyuka Cemetery, prominent people in Lincoln's history and developing a love of local history," she said.

That internship set her on a career path in historic preservation. She went to graduate school at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and then landed a job with the Nebraska State Historical Society.

"It felt good to be working in my home state," she said. "Now it feels good to be working in my own city."

Downed trees, more claims

The 80-90 mph winds that blew through Lincoln earlier this summer left hundreds of damaged trees in its wake, along with a bunch of claims filed by residents wanting to recoup damage from city-owned trees.

The city has 90 pending claims, according to the latest report filed with the City Council, 45 of those filed in August and the first half of September. Fifteen of those — 42% — are related to trees damaged during the July 31 storm.

Just what will happen to those claims remains to be seen, though city officials recently discussed the issue with the City Council in an executive session, which means the discussion wasn't open to the public.

One of the reasons state law allows officials to close a public meeting is for "strategy sessions with respect to . . . pending litigation, or litigation which is imminent as evidenced by communication of a claim or threat of litigation to or by the public body."

Before suing a political subdivision, a person must first file a claim. If the claim is denied, they can (but don't always) file a lawsuit.

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Local government reporter