The Superior Express -

Detour signs will soon be going up in Superior. If all goes as scheduled, the truck route around the east edge of Superior will be closed on Monday to through traffic.

Instead of using the truck route to bypass Superior, through traffic that has been using a combination of Fifteenth and Hartley streets, will be required to use a combination of Idaho, Bloom and Third streets.

The east bypass dates to the days when the Champlin Refining Company built a petroleum products terminal near the east edge of Superior. In the early years, the terminal was a busy place operateing around the clock with railcars being loaded on the Chicago & North Western Railroad for movement north and east. Tank trucks loaded in Superior delivered fuel not only all over Nebraska but into adjoining states. Before it closed for the last time, the rail spur had been removed and the terminal unattended. Drivers used an automated system to load the few trucks that still came to Superior for fuel.

The pipeline which connected Superior with the company’s refinery in Enid, Oklahoma, was the first in the nation to transport both gasoline and kerosene. The company paved the street from Hartley east to the terminal entrance. In the 1950s, the state helped fund the paving of a truck route around the east side of town.

The pipeline terminal operated for about 50 years but truck traffic declined as other pipelines and terminals were constructed in Nebraska.

Traffic on the truck route boomed with the opening of two elevators on East Third Street which are capable of loading shuttle trains.

The traffic is taking a toll on the bypass, and starting Monday a contractor from Sutton will be making repairs to the route.

Included will be the reconstruction of the intersection with Oak Ridge Road and the repair of several weak places in the current surfacing.

It is hoped the work can be completed in 5 to 7 days but that will depend upon the weather and the quality of the subbase.

While the project is underway, the road will be closed to all traffic between Eighth and “Fifteenth Streets. The detour will follow Third Street, Hartley to Bloom Street which is the route of Highway 8. From Third Street the detour route will follow Highway 14 to Fifteenth Street. The southern portion will be routed over Bloom Street but at Eighth Street the street name changes to Idaho.

The reason for the change in street names has been lost in the pages of history but likely it is related to a dispute with a banker.

In the early days of Superior the town had a banker by the name of Bloom. Bloom Street was likely named in his honor, The area north of Eighth was developed later and it is thought the developer probably did not want to honor Mr. Bloom and changed the name to Idaho.

For many years there was a slight jog with the two streets came together at Eighth Street.