Grand Island (Nebraska) Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

Grand Island is a city of 51,000 people (2019) in South Central Nebraska. Grand Island has been given the All-America City Award three times (1955, 1967, and 1981–82) by the National Civic League.

Interstate 80 (I-80) runs just south of Grand Island. Exits 312, 314 and 318 lead into the city. US Highway 30 cuts from the southwest corner to the northeast corner of town. US Highway 34 runs out of town to the east, paralleling I-80.

NE Highway 2 runs out of the city to the northwest. US Highway 281 cuts through the city north to south.

• 40.9675-98.3097221 Central Nebraska Regional Airport (GRI  ^IATA). Served by American Eagle twice daily from Dallas/Fort Worth and Allegiant Air from Las Vegas and Phoenix/Mesa  

Arrow/Trailways Lines (+1-800-992-4618)

Navigator Bus / Eppley Express^{[dead link]} provides limited shuttle service between Omaha and several Nebraska cities including Kearney, Grand Island, Hastings, Lincoln and York. Two pick-up/drop-off locations are available in Omaha: Eppley Airfield and Holiday Inn at 72nd & Grover just north of I-80. Service is limited to specific days and times depending upon your destination. Reservations available on-line. +1 308-234-6066.

Public shuttle service for the Greater Grand Island Area (308-385-5324)

Action Cab & Courier (308-381-1010)

• 40.8839-98.37331 Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (Stuhr Museum), 3133 W US Hwy 34 (Stuhr Museum is located at the corner of US Hwys 281 & 34, just 5 minutes north of I-80 Exit 312.), ☏ +1 308 385-5316. M-Sa 9AM-5PM, Su noon-5PM. A large scale indoor/outdoor museum dedicated to the Nebraska frontier and the pioneers who settled those lands. Exhibits include a replica 1800s plains town where visitors can interact with exhibits, walk inside the many buildings/houses on the campus and observe an 1800s train station along with older farm equipment used in the area. May-Sep: adult $8, senior $7, youth 6-12 $6, age 5 & under free; Oct-Apr: adult $6, senior $5, youth ages 6-12 $4, age 5 & under free.  
• Townsley-Murdock Trail Site, Platte River Valley (1.5 miles south of Alda, Nebraska), ☏ +1 308-382-4400. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 5, 1998, this site contains one of the only remaining ruts on the Mormon Trail. The 2.4-acre site is west of and adjacent to the Wood River Crossing area. Upon leaving the Wood River Crossing, travelers were funneled onto a narrow ridge, which separated the winding Wood River from the wetlands of the Platte. Every traveler on this trail was forced onto this narrow pathway, creating the wide and shallow swale, which remains today. The name of the site comes from the first owners of the land, originally settled by Marshal Townsley around 1860 and later occupied by Phineas and Catherine Murdock in 1866. Survey notes from 1866 note this tract of land contained the Murdock home, a sawmill and a telegraph line. This sawmill probably supplied the railroad ties for the first transcontinental railroad by Union Pacific Railroad in the 1860s as it was located just one mile south of the tracks. 
• Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center, 9325 South Alda Rd, Wood River (Exit 305 towards Alda), ☏ +1 308-382-1820. Mar: daily 8AM-6PM; Apr-Feb: M-Sa 9AM-5PM. The non-profit Crane Trust protects whooping and sandhill cranes in the Big Bend region. Their Visitor Center is very popular during migration season (March). (updated Feb 2020)
• 40.859-97.99582 Plainsman Museum, 210 16th St., Aurora (from I-80 take Exit #332 and go north for 3 miles, museum will be on right-hand (west) side of Highway 14 (16th St.)), ☏ +1 402 694-6531. Apr-Oct: daily 9AM-4PM, Sa 9AM-2PM , closed July 4th, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. A museum dedicated to the plainsmen of Nebraska. Exhibits include a log cabin and a sod-house, a time-varied history from the 1800s into the 1900s as well as automobiles, a 1800s schoolhouse and other various exhibits. Adult $7, senior (60+) $5, student (5-17) $4, under 5 free. (updated Jan 2023)

• Art in the Park, Stolley Park. A juried summer art festival operating since 1982. 
• Nebraska Danger Football, Heartland Events Center 700 East Stolley Park Rd.. The Nebraska Danger, central and western Nebraska's newest indoor professional football team and member of the IFL, was founded October 4, 2010 in Grand Island, Nebraska, by Charlie Bosselman and is owned and operated by the Bosselman Companies/Bosselman Entertainment, LLC. 

• Godfathers Pizza, 1916 S. Locust (Corner of so.Locust and Stolley Psrk Rd.), ☏ +1 308-384-9090. 11AM - 10PM. Dine-in, delivery, pick-up at drive-thru. Daily lunch buffet from 11AM-2PM. Wednesday night buffet from 5-8PM. In business for over 30 years. Customers say they have the best pizza! 
• Tommy's Family Restaurant, 1325 S Locust St, ☏ +1 308-381-0440. Daily 6AM-8PM. Chicken fried steak, fried chicken, pie, etc. 

• The Chicken Coop, 120 E. 3rd St., ☏ +1 308-398-2500. M-Sa 11AM-midnight, Su noon-10PM. 

• Days Inn Grand Island, 2620 Diers Ave, ☏ +1 308-210-9541. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 11AM. (updated Jun 2017)
• Comfort Inn, 3535 West State St, ☏ +1 308-381-7788. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. 
• Motel 6, 7301 Bosselman Ave., ☏ +1 308 384-6666. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: noon. 
• Ramada by Wyndham Midtown Grand Island, 2503 South Locust St (7 miles north of I-80), ☏ +1 308-384-1330. Check-in: 4PM, check-out: noon. Full service Holiday Inn with 13,800 square feet of meeting room space. 
• Island Inn Motel, 2311 South Locust (I 80 Exit 314 north 5miles on Locust St.), ☏ +1 308-382-1815. Check-in: 1PM, check-out: 11AM. Independent AAA approved comfortable, clean, well-maintained inn. 
• Super 8 by Wyndham Grand Island South, 3205 S Locust St, ☏ +1 308-594-1823. Check-in: 4PM, check-out: 11AM. 

• Grand Island Tourist Information Caboose, I-80 exit 312. March 1–31 & May 28- September 14 , Tuesday - Saturday 9AM-5PM, Sunday noon-5PM. at Bosselman travel center 
• Grand Island Hall County Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2424 S Locust St, Ste C, ☏ +1 308-382-4400, toll-free: +1-800-658-3178. M-F 8:30AM-5PM. 

• Omaha- 80 East. About 3 hours away.
• North Platte- 80 West. About 1½ hours away.
• Hastings- 34 West. About 35 minutes away.
• Aberdeen SD- 281 North. About 6 hours away.

Routes through Grand Island

North Platte ← Kearney ←	W  E	→ Aurora → Omaha
North Platte ← Kearney ←	W  E	→ Fremont → Missouri Valley
Fort Morgan ← Hastings ←	W  E	→ Aurora → Lincoln
Aberdeen ← O'Neill ←	N  S	→ Hastings → Watonga
Crawford ← Alliance ←	W  E	→ END