The Sutherland North River Bridge opened late Thursday, nine-and-a-half months ahead of schedule.

The bridge directly re-connects Sutherland with about 200,000 acres of farms and ranches in western Lincoln County and McPherson County. It also directly connects farm equipment with the highways and roads in the Platte Valley.

Lincoln County Commissioner Chris Bruns pulled the last road-closed sign off the highway at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

In addition to the speedy construction, the cost is also something of a record — $1 million less than expected. KEA Constructors, LLC, submitted the low bid for the project. The Lincoln County Commissioners readily accepted.

KEA is said to be one of the top bridge building companies in Nebraska. Good weather also helped construction move right along. Construction began on Oct. 26 on the $5.4 million project.

Now that the bridge is open, modern, wide farm equipment can cross the North Platte River at Sutherland for the first time in history.

The original, one-lane bridge was built in 1915 and remained the only way to cross the river at that location for 109 years. Farmers with wide equipment have had to drive 20 miles out of their way to Hershey and back to get from one side of the river to the other.

Since the old bridge closed and construction began, a Sutherland school bus has also made the twice-daily 20-mile detour. The Lincoln County taxpayers reimbursed the Sutherland school district for the cost of the extra travel.

The majority of the overall cost of the new bridge was paid by state and federal funds. The funds, and the bridge, have been a long time coming. Federal money is limited for bridge projects and prioritized by the Nebraska Department of Transportation. Lincoln County had applied for the funds for 30 years or more, but had to wait for the project to reach the top of the state funding list.

The project was set to go in 2014 but before the deal was done, the Missouri River flooded, and the money had to be reallocated to rebuild a bridge that washed out in eastern Nebraska.

It was a slow climb back to the top of the list.

Bruns said when he was elected four years ago, the project seemed dead. He said he and Lincoln County Highway Superintendent Jason Schultz worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and engaged with Sen. Deb Fischer to exert pressure from the federal level. The project finally moved ahead.

Sutherland residents were upset when, just a few days before the start of construction, it was announced that the old bridge would be immediately closed and demolished. Residents expected to be able to use the old bridge while the new one was built.

In response to the ensuing uproar, KEA promised to build the new one as quickly as possible. It appears that they kept their word.

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