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Minutes for SB357 - Committee on Transportation
Short Title
Designating a portion of United States highway 81 as the Merle Miller memorial highway.
Minutes Content for Tue, Feb 6, 2024
The Chair opened the hearing on SB357.
Mr. Siebers explained that the bill designates a portion of U.S. Highway 81 in Republic County as the Merle Miller memorial highway (Attachment 4). The memorial highway will begin at the Kansas-Nebraska border and end at the southern border of Republic County. He said the memorial designation would be initiated after sufficient gifts and donations had been received to cover the development costs plus an additional 50% of the cost for maintenance. He noted that the memorial designation would also remove the portion of highway presently designated the Frank Carlson Memorial Highway.
Margo Miller Lauban, a citizen and the daughter of Merle Miller, testified as a proponent for the bill (Attachment 5). She reviewed the career of her father, who was editor and publisher of the Belleville Telescope and who dreamed of a transcontinental highway from Canada through Mexico and Central America. She said he was President of the Pan-American Highway Association and through his life worked to focus attention on what he considered a key route through the center of the nation.
Fred Arnold, current publisher and owner of the Belleville Telescope, spoke in support of the bill (Attachment 6). He recounted the vision of Merle Miller in making U.S. 81 the Pan-American Highway and the fulfilling of his dream when a portion of the highway became four-lane. He commented that the Telescope would fund most or all of the development costs.
Written-only proponent testimony was provided by Adam Anderson, Belleville City Manager (Attachment 7).
The Chair closed the hearing on SB357.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:04 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 7, 2024.
