A quarter of a century old: Newcastle-Vermillion bridge turns 25

NEWCASTLE, Neb. (KTIV) - Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Vermillion Area Chamber held a celebration for the 25th anniversary of the Newcastle-Vermillion bridge.

“It’s neat to see generations of the people that were involved when it started, getting them together with like myself It’s only been a part of it. It’s been here for 25 years, but I’ve only been around for 20 of those 25 years living in this area. So it’s just neat to see them all getting together, being able to reminisce and talk about where they started and where they’re at today with it,” said Bryan Gotch, Mayor of Newcastle, Nebraska.

The bridge first began as an idea as far back as 1939.

“Vermilion had wanted in this bridge for 30 years before Tim was elected to Congress. And so one of his goals for his hometown community was to get the bridge off the ground. He was sworn in January and his first visit, constituent visit was to Vermilion where he met with local leaders and they decided the course that they were going to follow and from there it was a short skip to 2001,” said Barbara Johnson, wife of late senator Tim Johnson.

Some shared that they couldn’t imagine not having the bridge connecting the two communities.

“People weren’t sure that we needed the bridge and they thought we’d never get up to 500 cars a day across the bridge. Now we have over 1,400 cars, trucks a day going across, so it is certainly necessary,” said Johnson.

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