York County Press Release
YORK — York County Sheriff Paul Vrbka said Wednesday he is “very, very pleased that rumble bars have been installed on Highway 34, on the approach to the intersection with Highway 81” in York County.
“It appears they were installed on Tuesday,” Sheriff Vrbka said. “I’m not sure who made that happen so quickly but I’m just so happy it happened. The Nebraska Department of Transportation responded immediately to the situation and at least one step has been taken.”
There have been a number of fatality accidents in York County recently, all on Highway 34, and the intersection with the Highway 81 bypass has been particularly named as problematic. There was a fatality accident at that particular intersection in the past week — which was preceded by many very serious and fatal accidents in the past, since the bypass was created upon the four-lane expansion of Highway 81.
Sheriff Vrbka said after the latest fatality, he immediately reached out to District 24 State Senator Jana Hughes to see if she could help. “I just wanted to see if, on her end, she could help do something as Highway 34 and Highway 81 are state highways. The county has no jurisdiction as far as installing rumble bars or stop lights or changing speed limits or other remedies. We already have plans to meet out there this weekend, so she can see what these intersections look like; but then all of a sudden, the state installed the rumble bars on the west side of the Highway 34/81 intersection. We greatly appreciate it. It might not alleviate all accidents, but anything that can be done needs to be done. We’ve had way too many accidents there and any time we take a step to stop fatal accidents, it needs to happen.”
He said he still plans to meet with Senator Hughes at the intersections this Saturday, to discuss what else might need to take place.
“But meanwhile, I’m certainly happy and actually quite surprised something happened so quickly,” Sheriff Vrbka said.
