Nebraska Highway 2

Nebraska Highway 2
Nebraska Highway 2 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NDOT
Length	422.75 mi[1] (680.35 km)
Western segment
Length	370.88 mi[1] (596.87 km)
West end	SD 71 north of Crawford
Major intersections	US 20 in Crawford US 385 in Alliance US 83 in Thedford
East end	I-80 southeast of Grand Island
Eastern segment
Length	51.87 mi[1] (83.48 km)
West end	US 77 in Lincoln
Major intersections	N-50 in Syracuse US 75 in Nebraska City
East end	Iowa 2 at Missouri River in Nebraska City
Location
Counties	Western segment: Sioux, Dawes, Box Butte, Sheridan, Grant, Hooker, Thomas, Blaine, Custer, Sherman, Buffalo, Hall, Hamilton Eastern segment: Lancaster, Otoe
Highway system
Nebraska State Highway System Interstate US State Link Spur State Spurs Recreation ← N-1 → N-4

Nebraska Highway 2 is a state highway in Nebraska consisting of two discontinuous segments. The western segment begins at the South Dakota border northwest of Crawford and ends southeast of Grand Island at an intersection with Interstate 80. The eastern segment begins in Lincoln and ends at the Iowa border at Nebraska City. Previously, the two segments were connected via a route shared with U.S. Highway 34 between Grand Island and Lincoln.

Route description[]

Western segment[]

The western segment of NE 2 begins at the South Dakota border north of Crawford in a concurrency with Nebraska Highway 71. The road goes east, southeast, and then south into Crawford. In Crawford, there is a concurrency with U.S. Highway 20. Highway 2 and 71 both continue south from Crawford through Marsland, Nebraska. The two highways split west of Hemingford, Nebraska and NE 2 turns east towards Hemingford. At Hemingford, NE 2 turns southeast towards Alliance. At Berea, NE 2 meets U.S. Highway 385 and the two overlap into Alliance.^[1][2]

At Alliance, NE 2 goes east into the Sand Hills. It goes through several small towns, including Hyannis, Mullen and Thedford. In Thedford, NE 2 briefly overlaps U.S. Highway 83. East of Thedford, near Halsey, is the Nebraska National Forest. At Dunning, NE 2 intersects Nebraska Highway 91 and turns southeasterly towards Broken Bow and Grand Island.^[1][2]

After turning southeasterly at Dunning, NE 2 meets Nebraska Highway 92 in Merna. The two highways overlap through Broken Bow and separate when they meet U.S. Highway 183 in Ansley. NE 2 meets Nebraska Highway 10 in Hazard, Nebraska Highway 68 in Ravenna and Nebraska Highway 11 in Cairo. On the northwest edge of Grand Island, NE 2 becomes a 4 lane divided highway and then encounters U.S. Highway 281. NE 2 then follows US 281 along the western edge of Grand Island until it meets U.S. Highway 34 and then those two routes overlap through the southern edge of Grand Island. NE 2 and US 34 cross the Platte River and shortly thereafter, they separate and NE 2 turns south towards Interstate 80. At I-80, the western segment of NE 2 ends.^[1][2]

Eastern segment[]

The eastern segment of Nebraska Highway 2 begins in the southwestern part of Lincoln at an intersection with U.S. Highway 77. In Lincoln, NE 2 follows Van Dorn St. until it meets the south–north pair of 9th St. and 10th St. It then makes a turn south and then southeast along Nebraska Highway and becomes a 4 lane divided highway, which it will become for the rest of its length. Along this part of the highway is the headquarters of the Nebraska State Patrol, Nebraska Department of Roads and Nebraska State Penitentiary. NE 2 eventually leaves Lincoln and encounters several small towns and highways. It meets Nebraska Highway 43 north of Bennet and overlaps it for 5 miles (8.0 km), until shortly before Palmyra. Near Syracuse, there is a bypass of that community and there is a freeway exit for Nebraska Highway 50. It continues east and near Nebraska City, it meets U.S. Highway 75 and the two highways are together briefly until the southern edge of Nebraska City. Also at this intersection, Business Route 2 begins and goes through Nebraska City. After they separate, NE 2 heads east and then northeast, meets the eastern end of Business Route 2 and crosses the Missouri River over the Nebraska City Bridge and enters Iowa. In Iowa, the highway continues as Iowa Highway 2.^[1][3]

The eastern segment of NE 2 serves as part of a connecting route, along with U.S. Highway 77, between Interstate 29 in Iowa and Interstate 80 in Lincoln. It allows traffic coming from Kansas City, Missouri to go to Lincoln and points west of Lincoln to bypass Omaha. To better facilitate this link between I-80 and I-29, in February 2020 the Nebraska DOT began a major project to construct the Lincoln South Beltway to carry NE 2. This will be a modern divided and controlled access freeway that will give a direct route from 120th Street to U.S. Highway 77 near Saltillo. Construction is planned for completion in 2023. ^[4]

The eastern segment of Nebraska Highway 2 has the commemorative name of Jerome and Betty Warner Memorial Highway. The portion of the highway east of the west U.S. 75 junction to the Nebraska City Bridge in the Nebraska City area is known as the J. Sterling Morton Beltway, in honor of the creator of Arbor Day and the former Secretary of Agriculture.

Major intersections[]

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Sioux	​	0.00	0.00	SD 71 north – Hot Springs SD	Western end of N-71 overlap; continuation into South Dakota
Dawes	Crawford	28.47	45.82	US 20 east – Fort Robinson, Harrison	Western end of US-20 overlap
		29.33	47.20	US 20 west (McPherson Street) – Chadron	Eastern end of US-20 overlap
Box Butte	​	55.17	88.79	N-71 south (Dodge Road) – Scottsbluff	Eastern end of N-71 overlap
	Hemingford	67.32	108.34	L-7E east – Chadron
	Berea	77.48	124.69	US 385 north – Chadron	Western end of US-385 overlap
	Alliance	85.41	137.45	US 385 south (County Road 61) – Bridgeport	Eastern end of US-385 overlap
		87.45	140.74	N-87 north (Flack Avenue) – Hay Springs
Sheridan	Lakeside	110.42	177.70	N-250 north – Rushville
	Ellsworth	118.12	190.10	N-27 north (Sheridan Road) – Gordon
Grant	Hyannis	145.61	234.34	N-61 north – Merriman	Western end of N-61 overlap
		147.32	237.09	N-61 south – Arthur	Eastern end of N-61 overlap
Hooker	Mullen	184.81	297.42	N-97 – Valentine, Tryon
Thomas	Seneca	196.02	315.46	S-86A north (Athens Street)
	Thedford	210.79	339.23	US 83 south – Stapleton, North Platte	Western end of US-83 overlap
		212.31	341.68	US 83 north – Valentine	Eastern end of US-83 overlap
	Halsey	226.08	363.84	S-86B south
Blaine	Dunning	237.61	382.40	N-91 east – Brewster
		237.97	382.98	S-5A west (Jewett Avenue)
Custer	Anselmo	258.37	415.81	S-21A east (Smith Avenue)
	Merna	269.39	433.54	N-92 west – Stapleton, North Platte	Western end of N-92 overlap
	Broken Bow	278.66	448.46	N-21 south (8th Avenue) – Lexington
		279.83	450.34	N-70 east – Ord
	Ansley	295.31	475.26	US 183 north / N-92 east – Loup City, Sargent	Eastern end of N-92 overlap; western end of US-183 overlap
		295.80	476.04	US 183 south – Miller, Holdrege	Eastern end of US-183 overlap
Sherman	Hazard	316.75	509.76	N-10 (County Road 144) – Loup City, Kearney
Buffalo	Ravenna	327.44	526.96	N-68 east (Grand Avenue)
Hall	Cairo	343.65	553.05	N-11 – Dannebrog, Wood River
	Grand Island	356.00	572.93	US 281 north – Saint Paul	Interchange; western end of US 281 overlap
		358.75	577.35	US 30 – Kearney, Central City	Interchange
		359.78	579.01	US 34 west / US 281 south (Tom Osborne Expressway) – Hastings	Eastern end of US-281 overlap; western end of US-34 overlap
Merrick	​	365.45	588.13	Bridge over Platte River
Hamilton	​	367.31	591.13	US 34 east – Aurora	Eastern end of US-34 overlap
	​	370.75– 370.88	596.66– 596.87	I-80 – Lincoln, Kearney	Eastern end of state maintenance; exit 318 on I-80
Gap in route
Lancaster	Lincoln	452.65	728.47	US 77 (Homestead Expressway) – Beatrice	Western end of state maintenance; interchange
		454.90	732.09	L-55W south (14th Street)
	​	466.40	750.60	N-43 south – Bennet	Western end of N-43 overlap; interchange
Otoe	Palmyra	471.66	759.06	N-43 north (County Road 6) – Eagle	Eastern end of N-43 overlap
		472.69	760.72	S-66A south (A Street) – Douglas
	Syracuse	484.71	780.07	N-50 (30th Road) – Syracuse	Interchange
	Dunbar	492.63	792.81	N-67 (46th Road)
	Nebraska City	499.86– 500.01	804.45– 804.69	US 75 north (J. Sterling Morton Beltway) / east (4th Corso) – Omaha, Nebraska City	Interchange; western end of US-75 overlap
		502.48	808.66	US 75 south (64th Road) / US 75 Bus. north (11th Street) – Nebraska City, Auburn	Interchange; eastern end of US-75 overlap
		503.13	809.71	west (4th Corso)
Missouri River		504.52	811.95	Nebraska City Bridge; Nebraska–Iowa line
				Iowa 2 east – Sidney IA	Continuation into Iowa
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

See also[]

 U.S. Roads portal

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nebraska Highway 2.

Route map:

• Nebraska Roads: NE 1-10