NDOT Partners With Local, State Agencies to Bring Improvements to Calamus State Recreation Area
This summer, a visit to Calamus State Recreation Area in Burwell, Neb. will feel a little smoother. For first time visitors, the improved roads, campgrounds and boat ramp parking areas might seem like any other state recreation area. But for those who have spent years navigating bumpy roads and squeezing into parking lots, the recently completed work makes all the difference.
“It looks like it’s a new park,” Jerry Woodgate, the Nebraska Department of Transportation District 4 Highway Project Manager and inspector of the Calamus project, said. “This is the first facelift it’s had in about 40 years.”
The work began in Fall of 2024 and wrapped up in June 2025. It includes improvements to 11.7 miles of roadways and parking lots in eight areas of the park, South Lake Road and across the Virginia Smith Dam, as well as improvements to campsites and boat ramp parking areas.
Woodgate said a portion of South Lake Road, which lies in both Loup and Garfield Counties, was resurfaced and the cable guardrail along the road was replaced to increase safety. The NDOT Local Assistance Division said it’s work both counties have been wanting done for years, but with limited funding options it wouldn’t have been possible without a combination of funding streams, something NDOT was able to help with.
“We’re talking an over $10 million project and that would have taken counties years to save for in order to afford the project,” Jodi Gibson, the NDOT Local Assistance Division Manager. “That’s the biggest thing we try to do is match some of our local agencies up with other funding sources that they just couldn’t fund with our own local funds.”
The funding includes $1.3 million in Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) funding, $8.3 million in State Rec Road funds, $1.1 million in Highway Safety Infrastructure Program (HSIP) funds, $360,000 from Loup County and $400,000 from Garfield County.
The project, which totaled to just over $12.5 million, required collaboration from several agencies including The Nebraska Department of Transportation, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Loup and Garfield Counties and the Bureau of Reclamation.
“For me this is the largest project that I’ve been involved with,” Tommy Hicks, Nebraska Game and Parks North Central Regional Superintendent, said. “Working with all the agencies, the communication is key so everybody’s on the same page with what’s going on with the project at all times, and where we’re at in each phase of the project.”
Improvements can now be seen around eight park areas: Hannaman Bayou, Valley View Flat, Homestead Knolls, Little York Point, Nunda Shoal, Buckshot Bay, Fish Hatchery Road and South Lake Road.
“If you go inside any of the areas from the main road in, everything’s been resurfaced inside,” Woodgate said. “All the surfacing in there is brand new with a little bit of additional parking surfaced area.”
The work also includes the building or widening of approximately 30 ADA compliant camper pads. Woodgate said the remaining asphalt camper pads in all areas were overlayed. Also new to the park, is a kiosk area at the entrance to the Homestead Knolls campground.
“It’s a night and day difference of what it used to be to what it is now,” Hicks said. “It’s creating more access to the reservoir and to the area. I believe it is going to increase tourism to our communities.”
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