The City of Omaha held a public meeting presenting the current plan for improving 120th St from Stonegate, south of W Maple, to Roanoke, almost to Fort St. Besides providing four through lanes on 120th north of West Maple, additional right of way will be purchased to provide double left turn lanes onto West Maple. Crosswalks will also be extended across West Maple on both sides of 120th.
In addition, the Big Papio Trail will run parallel to 120th on the east side from north of Old Maple to the Big Papillion Creek where it will go under the bridge and into Tranquility Park. See figure 4A and following starting on page 23 in the 120th Draft Environmental Assessment pdf at https://sites.google.com/a/cityofomaha.org/opw-50949—120th-street-stonegate-to-fort/draft-environmental-assessment-dea
I raised the question, “Where is the plan to connect the trail from 120th and W Maple to the end of the trail in Hefflinger Park?” I was directed to Dennis Bryers in Omaha Parks. I emailed Dennis about the connection plan and he wrote the following:
Thanks for the e-mail. We are planning to extend the Big Papio Trail north from Hefflinger Park sometime between Public Work’s two projects on N. 120th Street and West Maple Road. Project will consist of rebuilding the section of the trail in Hefflinger Park, construction/installation of a new pedestrian bridge across the side creek and extending the trail to connect to the section that Public Works is building as part of the N. 120th & West Maple Road work.
The West Maple bridge deck across the Big Papillion Creek is currently scheduled to be replaced in 2019 and would be the best time to bridge the trail across the creek and W Maple. The 120th St expansion is currently scheduled for 2021/2.
The timing for the trail between Hefflinger and 120th is dependent on getting three or four other trail projects completed. Though the portion of the trail attached to the West Maple bridge should be done during redecking, the side creek bridge and other sections will likely happen later. To see some of the other trail projects, go to https://parks.cityofomaha.org/parks/trails
If you want to express any concerns about the 120th St expansion, the Big Papio Trail extension to 120th, or appreciation for coordinating these projects for completion, please email:
Jon Meyer for 120th St: Jon.Meyer@cityofomaha.org
Dennis Bryers for Big Papio Trail to 120th: Dennis.Bryers@cityofomaha.org
Dale Rabideau
Mode Shift Omaha
Have there been any updates on this project? I know it looks like they are working along the creek just north of 120th and Maple St., just wondering if there is an update on timeline that Mode Shift has heard?
@pvotrobek great question. Here’s the response I got from the Papio NRD:
The 120th Street bridge over the Big Papio Creek is complete and fully open. This includes the trail underpass which is on the right bank (convention is to label when looking downstream, meaning the south side).
Would be interesting to know when they plan to complete the connector trail between Hefflinger Park to the new underpass on 120th north of Maple by Tranquility. I think getting that done would greatly improve usability and even getting mountain bikers riding their bike to the trails at Tranquility. We would actually use it as part of a very disconnected traversal from North of Military to actually safely traverse south from that point. Just haven’t seen or heard much about this getting done and it’s a bit disheartening.