Only a few members of the community came to a public hearing at the high school library Tuesday night to find out about bridge improvements on 18th Avenue over the Kansas Turnpike.
The project aims to widen 18th Avenue from west of the roundabout out to the property line of Jones Aquatic Center, according to Jon Proehl, supervisor for the project. The street will be widened from two to four lanes and will include a foot bridge over the turnpike and paths and sidewalks to the aquatic center.
“From a safety perspective, it’s a bridge that needs to be done,” said one audience member. “We need a conducive bridge to take foot traffic across there.”
As planned, the project is expected to cost $7.4 million. The Kansas Department of Transportation will pick up $5.414 million of that cost, while the city’s share will be $1.986 million.
“I was hoping there would be more people here,” said interim city engineer Mike Novak. “We’re wanting to let people know about this project.”
Of particular note, Novak wanted to inform residents of Deerbrook Lane of a wall that will be going up nearby to support the right of way.
“To raise the bridge, we have to raise the road,” Novak said. “We’ll have to build a retaining wall to avoid a slope that will cut into several yards.”
The point of the slope is to build the right of way so as not to take away from Deerbrook, Novak said. “Without a wall we’d be right up to the backs of several homes. So we’ll protect property values by dealing with the slope this way.”
Bids for the project are expected to go out in November, according to Proehl. Construction will start in February or March, and is set to take nine or ten months.
Also discussed was progress on the Graphic Arts bridge, which was expected to be finished in November.
“It’s still planned to be finished in late November or early December,” Proehl said. “There’ve been foundation issues and issues with footings that have caused delays of two or three weeks,” he said, referring to the recent heavy rains that hampered work on the project. “King Construction will be doing foundation work again, starting tomorrow.”