Traffic flows along Q Street as construction continues on the Westbrook Music Building (left). On Thursday, the NU Board of Regents approved an agreement with the City of Lincoln to create an “enhanced pedestrian promenade” near the corner of 10th and Q streets. Students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Husker fans – or your everyday pedestrian – will soon get to enjoy a new streetscape connecting downtown with City Campus.
On Thursday, the NU Board of Regents approved an agreement with the City of Lincoln to create an “enhanced pedestrian promenade” near the corner of 10th and Q streets. The $350,000 project, instead of being managed independently by the city, will become part of the finishing touches on UNL’s new $81 million Westbrook Music Building replacement, which is scheduled to open next year. The streetscape enhancement will be entirely funded by the city, UNL officials said, but will be added to the Westbrook project’s budget, which is being paid for from deferred maintenance funds set aside by the Legislature, in order for work to proceed concurrently.
“If we don’t do this, (work) would happen after the project,” UNL Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance Mike Zeleny said. “We’re asking we do this as part of the project instead of after, so it costs us nothing and actually saves the city money, too.” Regents approved the measure 8-0.
Once completed, the right-most lane of 10th Street north of Q Street would be removed to make space for a widened sidewalk with new landscaping and pedestrian lighting on the east side of the street. The NU Board of Regents approved an agreement with the City of Lincoln to create an “enhanced pedestrian promenade” near the corner of 10th and Q streets (bottom map). According to the city’s master plan, the landscaping would also provide a buffer between the street and pedestrian walkway, as well as “signal the change between downtown and campus environments.
” Peter Hind, director of Urban Development for the city, said the streetscape enhancement, which is part of the Downtown Corridors Project , was an opportunity to seize upon "collateral benefit" for both the city and university. "We realized in our discussions that the Westbrook and Architecture (Hall) project were moving along much faster, so the need for us to allocate funding needed to happen sooner," Hind said. Drawing from the $4 million appropriated by Congress to the city for streetscape improvements, as well as tax-increment financing dollars from other downtown projects, Hind said the city added $350,000 to the $100,000 budgeted for the project by UNL.
The area will change further when the city converts one lane of traffic into what Hind described as a "smart lane," which includes some parking stalls and turn lanes that can also be used for pedestrians before and after Husker games. "We want to make sure that area is safe, beautiful and vibrant," he said. NU approved plans for the Westbrook Music Building replacement in 2021, which along with creating a modern space for music instruction and performance, would also anchor the southwest corner of City Campus and serve as a gateway between downtown and the Haymarket.
Traffic flows along Q Street as construction continues on the Westbrook Music Building on Thursday. Once the new building opens next year, UNL plans to demolish the current Westbrook Music Building and turn it into a green space, creating a quad surrounded by Kimball Recital Hall, the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Sheldon Museum of Art, the Woods Art Building, and the Architecture Complex. The green space will also become home to the “Kissing Columns,” the granite columns each standing 22 feet high and weighing 18,000 pounds, creating an entrance to campus from Q Street.
In other business: * Regents approved NU’s 2025-27 biennial budget request on an 8-0 vote. The increase calls for 3% salary increases for faculty and staff and 5% bumps in health insurance costs in each year of the biennium, as well as $1.5 million per year for the Presidential Scholars program and $1.
5 million annually for the Nebraska Research Initiative. The budget request, which must be submitted to the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education by Aug. 15 and the Legislature by Sept.
15, amounts to roughly a 3.5% increase in state appropriations for NU. That would match the increase Nebraska’s community colleges are set to receive next year.
NU’s current state appropriation is nearly $700 million. * Regents approved spending $50 million in existing private funds to begin non-construction design work on Project Health , an ambitious public-private partnership at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. As planned, the nearly $2.
2 billion project aims to provide state-of-the-art training facilities for the next generation of health care providers, conduct research and offer clinical trials. The scope of work approved by regents on Thursday will pay for design work to begin on a 7.5-acre site near the Fred & Pamela Buffet Cancer Center and the Durham Towers.
* Thursday marked the first meeting for new President Jeff Gold, who was named the university’s top administrator in March. Gold, who led UNMC as chancellor for a decade, said he has spent the first six weeks in his new position traveling the state and meeting with Nebraskans. He told regents he has been inspired by the love Nebraskans have for their public university system.
“Whether you live in an urban or rural part of the state, whether your passion is for agriculture, athletics, health care, teaching, our work with the military, we all have something in common,” Gold said. “That’s a stake in the success of this great university system.” Gold said the Nebraskans he met urged him to push NU to continue meeting the state’s workforce needs, to see the university rejoin the Association of American Universities, and to ensure the state continues to have faith in the university as a center for higher education.
An investiture ceremony will be held for Gold, NU’s ninth president, on Sept. 5. He was previously invested as chancellor of UNMC on Sept.
5, 2014, and as UNO chancellor on Sept. 5, 2017. Todd Heiser of Lincoln makes one of five trips of the day to drop off tree debris at a collection site at Holmes Lake Park on Monday.
J.J. Yost, assistant director of Parks and Recreation, said the debris drop-off site at Holmes Lake has been one of the busiest — and it's also one of the smallest.
The city has brought equipment to all the drop-off sites to consolidate tree debris. At Holmes Lake, workers also used a grinder to further process debris. Yost said the city is encouraging residents to use other sites, which include Seng Park (south of the ballfields); Woods Park (south lot off of J Street); Oak Lake Park (main lot off of Charleston Street); and Hofeling Enterprises, 2200 South Folsom Court.
City parks sites will accept debris until Aug. 19. Wilber native David Rogers, 10 (first right) holds his cousin William Mays, 3, as they dance during the 63rd annual Wilber Czech Festival held in Downtown Wilber on Saturday, Aug.
3, 2024. A wild horse jumps onto its back as it tries to throw off a rope held by Troy Graybill (from front) Chris Hajek, and Scott Graves as they try to saddle it during the wild horse race a during the final day of Nebraska's Big Rodeo at the Garfield County Fairgrounds on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Burwell. Nebraska Capitol groundskeepers Lexis Funk (left) and Heather Dinslage collect fallen tree branches Thursday in Lincoln.
JC Brager's Sawyer Bokowski (left) fields a ball as Papillion-La Vista South's Derek Geist runs to third base during the second inning of a National division Class A Legion baseball tournament game against on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at Den Hartog Field. Harry Tompkin, owner of Palace Glass Co., hands off a piece of stained glass to Kelly Mathes (from left) as they sort through inventory on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Lincoln.
After 43 years of creating stained glass, Harry Tompkin plans to close his shop by September. Most of the remaining pieces are rejuvenation projects or those that were planned before his decision to close. Burwell's Keelin Swett, 12, blows a bubble with her gum while waiting in the staging area behind the chutes during the final day of Nebraska's Big Rodeo at the Garfield County Fairgrounds on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Burwell.
New teachers gather for the Lincoln Public Schools New Educator Kickoff on Monday at Southwest High School. Bob Swanson uses a chainsaw to clean up large fallen branches after a storm pummeled the city Wednesday in Lincoln. Quade Peterson of Litchfield is dragged underneath a wild horse while attempting to saddle it in the wild horse race competition during the final day of Nebraska's Big Rodeo at the Garfield County Fairgrounds on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Burwell.
Akroyd Darkgrove, played by Shade Ingraham (left), has popcorn thrown at him by Jacob Parman, 7, of Fargo, North Dakota, during a performance of "Phantom of Darkgrove" at the Denman and Mary Mallory Kountze Memorial Theatre at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park in July. Audience interaction is a big part of what makes the melodramas at the park special, crew members said.
The crowd is encouraged to respond vocally to musical cues throughout the play and throw popcorn at the villain. Noah Wong, 7, unzips backpacks for the assembly line to place school supplies inside it during Spreetail's annual Back(Pack) to School Event on Friday. Nebraska Volleyball head coach John Cook poses for a photo in front of the chutes before the Grand Entry on the final day of Nebraska's Big Rodeo at the Garfield County Fairgrounds on Saturday, July 27, 2024, in Burwell.
Matt Rhule (center) leads a group of participants inside to cool off during his "She's Got Game" girls football camp on Saturday, July 27, 2024, at Memorial Stadium. Nazar Durzhynskyi, 9, focuses on keeping the ball off the ground using his racket while participating in a practice drill during a tennis camp held for Ukrainian children at Woods Tennis Center on Thursday. A Lincoln firefighter (center) works inside of a crashed bus to help free one of the drivers following a crash at the intersection of North 10th and P street on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, in Lincoln.
Only one driver was injured in the crash and transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Papillon La Vista South's assistant coach Sam Palensky (center) leads the "mafia" game with players from both teams in the locker room as they wait during a weather delay at the Legion National Division championship game on Wednesday, July 31, 2024, at Den Hartog Field. Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig brushes his hair back after finishing a song during a performance at Pinewood Bowl Theater on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in Lincoln.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or [email protected] . On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS Get local news delivered to your inbox! Higher education/statehouse reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
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