Skip to main content

Great Platte River Road Archway Monument

Image
By

 


Rising from the prairie like a beautiful cathedral, the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument is a bit of an unofficial gateway between east and west on I-80 in Kearney, Nebraska. More commonly and simply known as the Archway, it is a monument, exhibit and museum that pays homage to the pioneers that traveled across Nebraska along with highlights on local history and culture. It was envisioned by Frank B. Morrison Sr., who was a three term governor of Nebraska, and it was designed by a Walt Disney team from Orlando. The Archway was even featured in a scene from the movie About Schmidt, which Jack Nicholson starred in.

The Archway opened in 2000 at a cost of $60 million. Using some giant multi wheeled transporters, the 1,500 ton, 310 foot structure was rolled across Interstate 80 in one piece on the night of Aug. 16, 1999. I-80 was closed for eight hours that night while the archway was locked onto its support platforms. The Archway is supposed to give you the feel of looking at a covered bridge at sunset. For years, the Archway did not have its own exit, having to be accessed by a service road from Kearney. A new exit for the Archway was built in 2013, which has been numbered as Exit 275. The archway in Kearney was meant to be a tourist attraction, but it wasn't until 2017 that it became profitable, due in part of the solar eclipse that crossed Nebraska that August. The managers of the Archway state that initial projections for visitors were off and in 2013, the Archway had to go through bankruptcy, which resulted in making them no longer having to make payments on the loans to build the $60 million exhibit.

Inside, the Archway has a gift shop, exhibits about the history of the lands and the peoples surrounding the Great Platte River Road. Enter the Archway and you will see an escalator that leads you to exhibits of Lewis & Clark, of pioneers on the Oregon Trail, of Pony Express riders, of travelers passing by on the historic Lincoln Highway, all who made their way across Nebraska. You can even shoot a radar gun at cars passing below on I-80. The Archway is part of a 90 acre campus, which features walking trails, sculptures, a sod house, picnic areas, a lake, a bridge built in 1914 that was moved to cross the lake, a Lincoln Highway exhibit and more. You can spend as much time exploring the outdoor parts of the Archway as you can spend inside the Archway. I visited the Archway during a recent cross country drive and had a little time to explore the outside part of the tourist attraction, but certainly not enough time to really take in all that the Archway has to offer. It helped break up an otherwise long and very windy day of driving between Lincoln, Nebraska and Rock Springs, Wyoming.


Archway entrance way.

The Archway as it spans I-80.

Two windows above I-80, where visitors can take a look at the highway below and shoot radar guns at passing vehicles.



A neat sculpture on top of the Archway.

Bison sculpture.

The Hammer Motel is part of the Archway's Lincoln Highway exhibit. The Lincoln Highway passed through Kearney and the Hammer Motel was a popular overnight stop for travelers on the Lincoln Highway. The Archway was able to preserve the Hammer Motel sign for the exhibit.

Pony Express sculpture.

The Archway is home to a historic Pratt truss bridge that was originally built in 1914 by the Canton Bridge Company of Canton, Ohio and the bridge originally crossed the Elkhorn River in rural Pierce, Nebraska. The bridge was installed at the Archway in 2005.


The Archway has a special relationship with the Lincoln Highway. As part of their Lincoln Highway exhibit, they have an original Lincoln Highway marker and bricks that were originally paved on the Lincoln Highway itself. The bricks were from a section of the Lincoln Highway known as Tuscawaras Street, located in Canton, Ohio. Over 2,000 of those bricks were brought to the Archway as part of an Eagle Scout project.


How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
The Archway - The Archway
Nebraska Traveler - The Archway
Visit Nebraska - The Archway
Roadside America - The Archway
10 11 Now - Our Town Kearney: The Archway finally makes a profit
Omaha World-Herald - Kearney Arch makes a profit for the first time since it opened in 2000 (3/2/2018)

Labels

Labels:
Location: 3060 E 1st St, Kearney, NE 68847, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former US Route 50 and the Pioneer Route Lincoln Highway on Johnson's Pass Road

By
Johnson's Pass Road is one of the oldest highway corridors in California.  Johnson's Pass was part of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road as it was completed during 1856 over the Sierra Nevada.  The pass would later be incorporated into the Pioneer Branch of the Lincoln Highway in 1913 and US Route 50 in 1926.  Johnson's Pass Road would be bypassed by a new alignment of US Route 50 over Echo Summit in 1938.  A replacement of the Meyers Grade east of Johnson's Pass would be opened to traffic in 1947.   Johnson's Pass Road remains accessible to traffic and is still signed by the Lincoln Highway Association.  Pictured as the blog cover is the view from the top of Johnson's Pass Road overlooking modern US Route 50 and Lake Tahoe.   Part 1; the history of Johnson's Pass Much of the history of what become the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road is discussed in the  September 1950 California Highways & Public Works  during its Centennial Edition.  The or...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former US Route 50 and the South Lincoln Highway from Folsom east to Placerville

By
The corridor of Folsom of Sacramento County east to Placerville of El Dorado County has been a long established corridor of overland travel dating back to the California Gold Rush.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor was once part of the path of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road which became the first California State Highway and later the South Lincoln Highway.  In time the South Lincoln Highway's surface alignment was inherited by US Route 50.  The Folsom-Placerville corridor also includes the communities of; Clarksville, Shingle Springs and El Dorado. Part 1; the history of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road, South Lincoln Highway and US Route 50 through Folsom-Placerville Folsom is located on the American River/Lake Natoma of eastern Sacramento County.  That lands now occupied by the City of Folsom were part of Rancho Rio de los Americanos prior to the finding of gold at Sutter's Mill during 1848.  During the California Gold Rush the lands of Rancho Rio de los Americanos were p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

By
At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...
1 comment
Read more