On Saturday, October 13, 2001, about 2:00 p.m. central daylight time, a 2000 Thomas BuiltBuses, Inc., 78-passenger school bus carrying 27 Seward High School students and 3 adults (excluding thedriver) was traveling westbound through a work zone on U.S. Route 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. As the Sewardbus entered the work zone lane shift at the approach to the West Papillion Creek Bridge, it encountered a1986 Motor Coach Industries 52-passenger motorcoach carrying Norfolk High School students travelingeastbound.