CHADRON, Neb. - About 40 western Nebraska community leaders met Aug. 25 in Bridgeport, focused on creating a unified effort to promote transportation improvements in the Panhandle.

The primary concern was the proposed Heartland Expressway, planned as a four-lane highway from Denver to Rapid City, S.D., and improvements on U.S. Highway 385 south of Angora Junction, where the Heartland Expressway route heads west to connect with Neb. Highway 71 south from Scottsbluff.

Neb. District 49 Senator LeRoy Louden was instrumental in organizing the meeting, Bridgeport City Manager Bill Boyer said.

"He wanted to get folks on the 385 corridor together and discuss ways we can make 385 more enhanced," Boyer said.

Among those represented at the session were Alliance, Sidney, Kimball, Bridgeport, Scottsbluff County, and local and regional economic development organizations, Boyer said.

"We talked about how in the past there may have been disagreements about where the Heartland Expressway should have gone, but at this point, we need to put our differences aside and move forward with what we can do together," he said. "We need to send a unified message to the state."

Part of that message is to make completion of the Heartland Expressway a priority, Boyer said.

"South Dakota is waiting on us to get it done," he said.

Getting people from eastern Nebraska to understand the importance of the Expressway and other transportation enhancements is critical to getting state funding, Boyer said.

"It will take lots of grass-roots efforts. We need to get the public involved. If it means getting people on a bus and going to Lincoln, when we can get folks in Lincoln to recognize it will keep the Panhandle from losing more people."

The region's congressional delegation are willing to work on funding for the projects but need to know there is state support, Boyer said.

The success of a group that lobbied for funding for the Kimball bypass project shows how a unified approach can be successful, Boyer said.

"They said there was no money, and then there were media comments, and the money appeared," he said. "Votes matter, and this district is important to the governor and congress and senate. We need to show that we can work together on this issue."

The meeting in Bridgeport didn't produce tangible results, apart from agreement on the need to work together, Boyer said. Participants decided to reconvene in a few weeks to "see how many are willing to work on it and how to get organized," he said.