Stephen R. England, SEC ALC AFM EMS, President, Investment Property Exchange Inc., 3811 Central Avenue, Suite G, Kearney, NE 68848, 308 236 8505 office, 308 234 6025 fax, 308
440 8190 cell, sent me the following contribution which is published
with his permission:
"
At the time the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument was planned,
officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Nebraska
Department of Roads told us that along I-80 separate exits and entrances
for other than communities were prohibited. They also had a provision
that said any food or commerce profits had to go to a special federal
fund. This pretty much eliminated the Archway operating as a business
with its own exit and entrance ramps.
However also the Kearney Motel community assessed themselves a
2% tax on all motel room receipts for five years so that those funds
could be given to the Great Platte River Archway Monument Foundation to
plan the project. This amounted to approximately $1M. If the Archway
had had its own "easy on" "easy off" exit there would have been less chance
that those visitors would stay in Kearney and return to the motel owners
their risked investment. As an example if you drive through Ohio, I-80
is a toll road and they have several very elaborate rest areas where
some franchise restaurants and basic services are available. Most out of
area travelers never get off the expressway to visit the Ohio
communities. The city of Kearney did not want this to happen so it was
decided not to fight the special exit issue which might have required an
act of Congress to change.
If you have traveled through other states along I-80 you might
see some restaurants and rest areas that seem to violate this supposed
law. However we were told that these were areas added to I-80 and were
not part of the original I-80 Coast to Coast Highway project so they had
different rules.
Ultimately the Great Platte River Road Archway Monument was
located along a frontage road two miles east of the Kearney I-80 exit. The absence of an exit on the east side of the property made it easy for
travelers going east to decide to not stop since they had to backtrack
about six miles. I know all of these options were discussed thoroughly
because I was retained to find a suitable location for the project and
this land had one mile of frontage on both sides of the interstate and
if not selected the site selection would have had to involve the
voluntary purchase of lands from many different owners at a much higher
price. Without some sort of condemnation authority it probably couldn't
have happened.
Building an attraction of this type had never been done before. Several studies were done by national experts and they predicted that
people would see this very interesting and attractive structure and
decide to stop by. It is basically a $60M billboard that
can be seen for a couple miles in both directions. However no one
realized with modern vehicles equipped with large gas tanks, video
players, etc., the traveling public does not make very many impulse
stops. Most have to be convinced prior to embarking that an Archway
stop will be scheduled.
The other problem is that this is really an historical museum
which once visited many don't feel the desire to return to even though it
is quite spectacular and has received many national accolades. It
needs to be more interactive and fun where visitors would want to come
back again very soon. There needs to be more fun family stuff to do
except look and learn.
The interesting thing for Kearney is that the bankruptcy court
just sold this monster facility to a group of us community business
folks for $120,000 and dismissed all other obligations. Either the
Foundation or the Community is going to own it soon. This bankruptcy
should have been filed years ago because the Archway was saddled with
impossible indebtedness with no hope of repaying. So any new idea or
program that would have allowed the Archway to earn a little profit had
to go directly to bondholders which solved no problems for anyone and
certainly did not provide a path to financial viability.
Unbelieveably most observers don't realize that there is no
local money invested here at all. It was funded entirely by big Wall
Street mutual funds. Some brokerage firms with local offices tried to
invest for local people but were thankfully shut out. This entire
offering went to Wall Street just before the peak of the Dot Com bubble
and Smith Barney and others could sell anything. This offering was
sold out in four hours. The Foundation went from wondering where to
come up with $3,000 to exercise the land option to having $57M in the
bank a week later.
I think now with some cost cutting, new leadership, and vision
that there can be numerous ways to make the Archway financially sound. It has been a huge asset to Kearney and it is an icon. Everyone who
travels by car through central Nebraska now knows about our community. I
have escorted many people through the Archway when they come here to do
some business. Their comment is generally "this is spectacular and I am
bringing my family back to see it soon!" not to mention the educational
resource it is for buses and buses of school children that visit every
year.
It is hard to quantify what the Great Platte River Road Archway
Monument has done for Kearney and Nebraska. However it is an
illustration that makes people take notice and fulfills a tremendous
historical education function for those taking its tour."
Please Note: Steve wrote the above material in response to our posting: Free the Archway! The Outdated US Code 23 §111 (Highways) and the Great Platte River Road Archway, Kearney, Nebraska, USA
"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."
-- Proverbs 29:18, King James Bible (KJV)
-- Proverbs 29:18, King James Bible (KJV)
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