Nebraska Highway 2

State highway

State Highway 2

N-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|  N-71 / 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 south of Lincoln
Major intersections|

* N-50 in Syracuse
* US 75 in Nebraska City

East end|  Iowa 2 at Missouri River in Nebraska City
Location
Country| United States
State| Nebraska
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 (N-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 (I-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 (US 34) between Grand Island and Lincoln.

## Route description[edit]

### Western segment[edit]

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

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

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

### Eastern segment[edit]

The eastern segment of N-2 begins as the Lincoln South Beltway, a freeway south of Lincoln, at a semi-directional T interchange with US 77. Passing by Lincoln to the south, N-2 becomes a four-lane divided highway following a diamond interchange with Nebraska Parkway, its former alignment through the city, southeast of it. It soon encounters several small towns and highways. It meets N-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 N-50. It continues east and near Nebraska City, it meets US 75 and the two highways are together briefly until the southern edge of Nebraska City. Also at this intersection, N-2 Business begins and goes through Nebraska City. After they separate, N-2 heads east and then northeast, meets the eastern end of N-2 Business 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 N-2 serves as part of a connecting route, along with US 77, between I-29 in Iowa and I-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 N-2. This modern divided and controlled access freeway will give a direct route from 120th Street to US 77 near Saltillo. Construction was planned for completion in 2023.[4] The beltway opened to traffic on December 14, 2022, six months ahead of expected in May 2023. However, the interchanges at Bennet Road-Jamaica Avenue and 82nd Street-84th Street are not expected to open until May 2024.[5]

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[edit]

All exits are unnumbered.

County| Location| mi[1]| km| Destinations| Notes

|
|
|
|
|

Sioux| ​| 0.00| 0.00|
SD 71 north – Hot Springs| 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| ​| | |

US 77 north (Homestead Expressway) to I-80| Western end of eastern segment; semi-directional T interchange, opened to traffic on December 14, 2022[5]
| |
US 77 south / Saltillo Road – Beatrice| Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; semi-directional T interchange, opened to traffic on December 14, 2022[5]
| | Jamaica Avenue / Bennet Road| Dogbone interchange, expected to open in May 2024[5]
| | 68th Street / 70th Street| Dogbone interchange, opened to traffic on December 14, 2022[5]
| | 82nd Street / 84th Street| Parclo AB2 interchange, expected to open in May 2024[5]
| | Nebraska Parkway – Lincoln

* * *

120th Street| Diamond interchange, former alignment of N-2, opened to traffic on December 14, 2022[5]
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) / N-2 Bus. 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|

N-2 Bus. west (4th Corso)|
Missouri River| 504.52| 811.95| Nebraska City Bridge; Nebraska–Iowa line

Iowa 2 east – Sidney| Continuation into Iowa
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

* Concurrency terminus
* Incomplete access
* Unopened

## See also[edit]

U.S. Roads portal

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Nebraska Highway Reference Log Book" (PDF). Nebraska Department of Roads. 2015. pp. 2–10. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
2. ^ a b c Google (November 10, 2010). "overview of Nebraska Highway 2 western segment" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
3. ^ Google (November 10, 2010). "overview of Nebraska Highway 2 eastern segment" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
4. ^ "Lincoln South Beltway — Nebraska Department of Transportation".
5. ^ a b c d e f g Wegley, Andrew (December 14, 2022). "Decades in the making, Lincoln South Beltway opens to traffic". Lincoln Journal Star. Ava Thomas. Retrieved December 14, 2022.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nebraska Highway 2.

KML file (edit • help)

Template:Attached KML/Nebraska Highway 2

KML is from Wikidata

* Nebraska Roads: NE 1-10

*[mi]: Miles
*[km]: Kilometers