Dodge Street is the main east–west street in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. Numbered as U.S. Route 6 (US 6) for most of its length, the street starts in

Downtown Omaha Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha–Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east ...

and connects to West Dodge Road just west of 78th Street. From there, it continues westward through the remainder of Douglas County.

About

Dodge Street was believed to have been named for Iowa

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Augustus C. Dodge. Dodge was a strong supporter of westward expansion beyond the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

who originally introduced the bill which led to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In 2016, the Omaha City Council approved a resolution clarifying that Dodge Street was named after Union General Grenville Dodge and his brother N. P. Dodge, Six miles of Dodge were paved with

macadam Macadam is a type of road construction pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam , in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the original mat ...

in June 1894; however, by 1917 citizens were circulating a petition for the road to be graded. Dodge Street serves as the dividing point between North and South street addresses in Omaha. The street features

reversible lane A reversible lane, also known as variable lane, dynamic lane, and tidal flow, is a managed lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, b ...

s from 30th Street to 69th Street to accommodate

commuter Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

traffic in and out of downtown. From the late 1950s through the late 1980s Dodge Street from 60th through 80th Streets was the main strip for cruising in Omaha. The City of Omaha ended this practice in the early 1990s, when it enacted a law prohibiting

U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the U, letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as ...

s from 8pm to midnight.

Route

Dodge Street begins as a westbound one-way offramp from

I-480 Interstate 480 may refer to: *Interstate 480 (Nebraska–Iowa), a loop through Omaha, Nebraska into Council Bluffs, Iowa *Interstate 480 (Ohio), a loop through Cleveland, Ohio *Interstate 480 (California), the former Embarcadero Freeway in San Fran ...

right after it crosses the

from

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. Traveling through

, this stretch begins the route of the former Lincoln Highway in Omaha. Along it are several buildings listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, including the Kirschbraun and Sons Creamery, Inc. at 901 Dodge Street, The Logan at 1804 Dodge Street, and the Simon Brothers Company at 1024 Dodge Street. The street was once lined by the Old Post Office. Accommodating U.S. 6, it conjoins with Douglas Street at 30th Street to hold five lanes of two-way traffic. At approximately 45th Street, the Saddle Creek Underpass takes Saddle Creek Road under Dodge Street. It is included on the Bridges in Nebraska Multiple Property Submission.

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

is a historic neighborhood in Midtown Omaha centered near 50th and Dodge Streets. Originally a separate city, Dundee was

annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...

by Omaha in 1915. The

University of Nebraska Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was origin ...

and the former Crossroads Mall are located near the intersection of 72nd Street and Dodge.

West Dodge Road

West Dodge Road is one of the main east & west streets in West Omaha. Beginning immediately west of 78th Street, the main six-lane road curves northwest, aligning itself with Cass Street. At this point, Dodge Street itself continues up the hill (between Methodist Hospital and

Children's Hospital A children's hospital (CH) is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults from birth up to until age 18, and through age 21 and older in the United States. In certain special cases, the ...

) and terminates at 84th Street.

West Dodge Expressway

Before

Westroads Mall Westroads Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Omaha, Nebraska at the intersection of 100th and Dodge Streets ( U.S. Route 6). It is the largest mall in Nebraska. The mall's anchor stores are The Container Store, Von Maur, JCPenney, Dick's Spo ...

and the Regency community, West Dodge Road becomes a controlled-access

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

at 96th Street (eastbound, stop lights do not begin until 90th), with an elevated local-express lane segment from I-680 through 132nd Street. The West Dodge freeway travels west by Boys Town and Elkhorn. At 204th Street ( Nebraska Highway 31), U.S. 6 exits to turn south towards Gretna and the freeway becomes Nebraska Link 28B. At 240th Street, the freeway turns north towards Fremont as part of U.S. Route 275.

Exit List

History

Omaha's Capitol Hill was originally located at the intersection of 20th and Dodge, at the building where the

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...

legislature convened. The steep grade of Dodge Street was reduced from 12% to 7% in the 1920s, dramatically altering the face of the grounds surrounding Omaha Central High School. The original Boys Town was opened on West Dodge Road in 1921, and the Joslyn Art Museum opened at 26th and Dodge in 1931. Omaha's notable Saddle Creek Underpass was built to facilitate traffic along Dodge Street by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

in 1934. The Memorial Park Pedestrian Bridge was completed in 1968. The expressway was opened in 2006.West Dodge Road info.
Nebraska State Department of Roads. Retrieved 3/27/08.

References

External links

Dodge Street
- Looking west on Dodge Street from 30th Street in 1889 {{Omaha transport Streets in Omaha, Nebraska U.S. Route 6