60-6,115. Closed road; travel permitted; when.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of section 60-6,119, when the Department of Transportation, any local authority, or its authorized representative or permittee has closed, in whole or in part, by barricade or otherwise, during repair or construction, any portion of any highway, the restrictions upon the use of such highway shall not apply to persons living along such closed highway or to persons who would need to travel such highway during the normal course of their operations if no other route of travel is available to such person, but extreme care shall be exercised by such persons on such highway.

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Annotations

Subsection (5) of this section applies to the operation of an automobile while it is on that part of the road which is closed and requires extreme caution so as to avoid the additional hazards that may be incident to the reason why the road has been closed. Birchem v. Eggers, 236 Neb. 775, 463 N.W.2d 824 (1990) (pursuant to Laws 1993, LB 370, section 211, language from subsection (5) of section 39-609 was placed in section 60-6,115).

Even if a motorist fell within the exception of the statute, an officer's stop of the vehicle for driving on a road which was clearly marked as being closed would be objectively reasonable because the officer would have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred. State v. Morrissey, 19 Neb. App. 590, 810 N.W.2d 195 (2012).

The exception of this section did not apply to a motorist traveling a road closed only due to weather and road conditions and where neither the motorist nor his passengers lived along the closed road, had reason to travel the road in the normal course of operations, or lacked another route of travel to their destination. State v. Morrissey, 19 Neb. App. 590, 810 N.W.2d 195 (2012).