Heartland Expressway could be asset to Kimball

Kimball is located directly in the center of the energy corridor. Currently developing is the Heartland Expressway, a federally designated high priority corridor. This corridor would be a four lane highway that would stretch from Texas up through North Dakota. This highway would provide potential consumer traffic for all the cities and towns on its route, Kimball being one of them.

Just this past week the city’s economic developer, Wilson Bowling, explained why it is that the expressway would be a beneficial asset to Kimball specifically.

“The expressway will go right through what is called the energy corridor. What this means is that energy and power companies will be inclined to set up shop along this corridor, due to the efficiency of the expressway. What I want to point out is that Kimball is one of the cities in the center of this corridor, which is a very good location,” Bowling said.

Despite the location, it will only be desirable if the expressway can be completed.

Recently Bowling went on a trip to Washington D.C. to discuss the shortfall in the highway trust fund.

“Every certain number of years Congress will pass a transportation bill. The most recent one was about two years ago, Map 21. Now they only funded it for two years, not the full five or six years. Even though it is a six year bill. The funding was supposed to go through to the end of the fiscal year but it’s going to go bankrupt in August,” Bowling said.

The state of Nebraska gets 49 percent of its funding from the federal government, meaning that if Map 21 does go bankrupt, all the roads projects will just stop because there will be no more money to fund them.

Bowling’s trip involved meeting with Congressional representatives and representatives from other states in order to try to figure out something to do to fix this problem. The lack of funding will affect the Heartland Expressway. Without the funding, the project will not be able to move forward.

“It’s kind of a hassle because part of South Dakota, through Rapid City, has already completed its four lane highway up to the Nebraska border. So if you’re driving through Rapid City and you get to Nebraska and you’re pushed back to two lanes that’s frustrating,” Bowling said.

Even though the benefits of the expressway would be plentiful, the process of getting it done is one that will take several years.

“It’s a long process and won’t just happen over night,” Bowling said.

Bowling cautions everyone, letting them know that this is a benefit that will happen gradually instead of right away. However, in the long run it could be rather good for Kimball.

The way the economic development of an area works is specific. A lot of people feel that building things like a large retail business or fast food chains will bring more people. That is not always the case.

“If you bring in retail or restaurant chains first you have a problem. You have lots of low paying jobs and not enough people to facilitate the business. It will slowly fizzle,” Bowling said.

Ideally what would happen is that a large company would move into a town, it would provide jobs that are high paying and people would come to fill those jobs. They plant roots and then the demands begin. People want a convenient location to shop at, so in come the retail stores. While people are out shopping they want to grab something to eat, so then the restaurant chains begin to pop up where the people are. Once the people are there that is when retail and restaurants put down roots.

In order to accommodate future businesses Kimball might have to start getting some sites dig ready. Dig ready means there are things like pipe running out to a site as well as electrical. This also means that the ground is already leveled and ready to go for whatever company might want to use the site.

What must be kept in mind concerning all of this is that it will all take time. It will take time for the Expressway to be completed, for companies to reach out to find a location, for people to come fill the job demand, and for retailers to fill the shopping demands.

“The expressway will be a great thing, and it will be great for Kimball. It’ll take a few years, this is a long term project and we have to see where it’s going before we make our next move, but if it works the way it’s planned it will be a great asset to our community,” Bowling said.