| US 75 | |||
| Get started | dawson | ||
| End | Dakota City | ||
| Length | 182 mi | ||
| Length | 293 km | ||
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According to citypopulationreview.com, US 75 is a US Highway in the US state of Nebraska. The highway runs through the far east of the state, from Dawson on the Kansas border to Dakota City on the Iowa border. On the way you will visit the conurbation of Omaha. The road is of little through importance as Interstate 29 is across the Missouri River. The route is 293 kilometers long.
Travel directions
US 75 near Dawson.
Southeastern Nebraska
About 10 miles south of the village of Dawson, US 75 enters Nebraska from Kansas. One then passes through bare meadows and through a flat area. One then crosses US 73, which comes from Falls City in the extreme southeast of Nebraska. The road network is built in a 1 by 1 mile grid pattern, and US 75 is part of that. The first larger town you encounter is Auburn, where you cross US 136, which runs from Beatrice in the west to northwest Missouri. One passes parallel to the Missouri River to the north.
The next town is Nebraska City, a somewhat larger town where one crosses State Route 2, a four-lane highway, which runs to the capital Lincoln in the west. A little further north, at the village of Union, US 34 merges from Lincoln. Both roads are then double-numbered until Plattsmouth, after which US 34 turns east, heading towards Red Oak in Iowa. From here, US 75 is a 2×2 lane freeway. One then crosses the Platte River and then reaches the metropolitan area of Omaha.
Omaha
The first suburb is Bellevue, which has 48,000 inhabitants. Although it is a suburb, Bellevue is the oldest city in Nebraska. The US 75 is called the Kennedy Freeway from here. The highway passes through the southern neighborhoods of Omaha. One then crosses Interstate 80, which runs from Lincoln, Denver, and Salt Lake City to Des Moines and Chicago. Then US 75 merges with Interstate 480, the highway around downtown Omaha.
North of downtown, US 75 continues straight, and I-480 turns east. The highway is then called the North Freeway, and it passes through the northern neighborhoods of the city. Here the highway has 2×3 lanes. These neighborhoods are somewhat older, and built in a tight and fine -mesh grid pattern. The highway section then ends at the Storz Expressway, and the regular main road continues north. On the north side of Omaha one crosses Interstate 680. You then leave the urban area.
Northeastern Nebraska
One then passes through slightly hilly area on the banks of the Missouri River. Near the town of Blair, there is an important intersection with US 30, which comes from Columbus, and a number of State Routes. One then passes through the sparsely populated torrent valley of the Missouri River. At the village of Winnebago the US 77 merges, which comes from Lincoln. Then one enters the mini-conurbation of Sioux City in Iowa. One crosses Interstate 129, a short tangential link south of Sioux City. They then cross the Missouri River and enter the state of Iowa.
History
US 75 was created in 1926. The route has not changed substantially in Nebraska since then, other than the conversion of the route in the Omaha region to a freeway.
The highway section through downtown Omaha opened in 1975 or 1976, and was originally planned to be numbered I-580, but this was declined because the interchange with I-480 was deemed too substandard.
The section between Bellevue and Omaha was constructed later. Circa 1983-1984, the first stretch of freeway opened, a 1.5-mile stretch between Gilmore Avenue and F Street. At that time there was no direct connection to I-80 or I-480, that node was opened around 1993-1994. During that time, the freeway has also been extended south along Bellevue. The highway then extended just south of Offutt Air Force Base.
The section between Bellevue and Plattsmouth was upgraded between 2012 and 2019. The old bridge over the Platte River has been replaced with a modern span and the road has been made grade separated. The new bridge opened on November 6, 2014. The commissioning of 9 kilometers of freeway between Offutt Air Force Base and Plattsmouth followed on July 31, 2019.
Traffic intensities
US 75 is a fairly quiet route south of Omaha, with only 2,255 vehicles crossing the Kansas border daily. Towards the north there is slightly more traffic, but there are no more than 5,000 vehicles. The highway section in Omaha is obviously busier, with 83,760 vehicles off I-80. North of downtown, intensities drop rapidly to 14,605 off I-680. North of Omaha, the road is even quieter with between 1,000 and 3,000 vehicles per day.
