ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Roads in Seward County have been a hot topic of conversation for some time now, and at last Tuesday’s town hall meeting, Administrator April Warden brought constituents up to speed on some of what the county is doing with roads.
Warden first reviewed the work of the engineering firm Kirkham Michael & Associates and the progress with Road O and Road P.
“Kirkham Michael was hired as an engineer, and they came in and helped us prioritize stuff,” she said. “Through these town halls like the one we’re having tonight, many came forward and said Road O and Road P need a lot of work. We have a lot of silage trucks that travel those roads.”
Warden said that part of the county likewise sees much in the way of economic development, and many of the trucks use Road O and Road P to get to Heifer Source and the Arkalon Ethanol plant. She added Road O in particular is heavily habitated.
“We have a lot of rural people who live in that area,” she said. “In fact, when I contacted the school system about the buses, I was shocked how many bus stops they have along both of those roads. From Highway 54 to Road 4, or Bluebell Road, there are 25 people who live along there. That’s just people facing the roadway. That’s not counting the people who live behind in some of the subdivisions there.”
Warden said one of the problems with Road O is the inability to drain water, but work has begun to make repairs to the road.
“We’re digging ditches,” she said. “We’re hauling in a lot of caliche. They’re rebuilding the road surface. In addition to the dirt work and constructing those ditches, they had to elevate the road, and there are places in the road they had to elevate – 33 to 36 inches if not more. They’re having to place culverts to help with the water. They are also reconstructing the base of the road. We’ve been working on this for a while, and we have one mile that is completely done.”
With the recent work on Road O, Warden said the county has received something it does not often get on its roads – compliments.
“People are saying, ‘They’re doing a great job. I can’t wait until they can do more of this throughout the county,’” she said. “It does take a lot of time. We have a lot of sandy conditions throughout the county, so you’re having a lot you’re having to build up with that.”
Warden next talked about Perma-Zyme, a unique soil stabilizer commissioners recently purchased to help with the Road O project.
“It turns the native soil into a hard concrete like surface,” she said. “Not only is it supposed to help with the maintenance of the road to make it more like a hard concrete surface, but it helps with a lot of the dust control.”
However, Warden said to apply Perma-Zyme, the temperature has to be above 40 degrees for at least 72 hours, and no heavy traffic can be allowed during that time period.
“That takes a lot of communications with the school systems, the buses, the trucks that do travel that road,” she said. “Obviously, we don’t want to do that at a time when harvest is going on, although we do have other routes they can take as well.”
For the people who live on Road O, though, there is only one way in and one way out.
“We will probably have to do half of the road and then the other half of the road,” Warden said. “We’ll be applying that Perma-Zyme in the spring when they can guarantee the temperatures that has to be on.”
While those who have traveled Road O since the repair work started are liking what they are seeing, Warden said some are asking about the need for Perma-Zyme.
“It’s great and we love that you love it, but we don’t have a lot of silage trucks traveling on that right now,” she said. “I definitely think the Perma-Zyme will be a much needed addition to the road, but it will be spring time when we do that.”
The next priority for the commission is Road P going from U.S. Highway 54 to Road 4, known locally as Bluebell Road. Warden said all of this is part of the commission’s goals and visions from its strategic planning meetings to do at least 10 miles of overlay a year. She said though no contractors bid out projects yet, projects were recently rebid, and the county is scheduled to do 28 miles of road in 2025.
“That consists of Road R from 54 to 160, Meade Lake Road from Highway 54 to the Meade County line, V Road, which is Meade Lake Road, to 54, Road 16 from Road T to the Kismet Main Street,” Warden said.
Warden said, Kismet’s Main Street was originally included in the plan, but officials with the City of Kismet talked about plans for new water lines and other issues on that street.
“We don’t want to tear up a new road you overlaid,” she said. “That portion will be added in at another time.”
Other overlay projects being looked are on the Satanta cutoff to Kansas Highway 190 in northern Seward County and Larrabee Road to U.S. Highway 160. Warden said overlay projects are something that is long overdue in the county.
“We haven’t done an overlay project in quite some time,” she said. “We’re super excited about making sure we stay on track, and we want to do 10 miles a year.”
Warden then reviewed two grants the county received this year from the Kansas Department of Transportation, the first being the High Risk Rural Road grant. Work done with this grant will include from about one-fifth of a mile north to 1.3 miles north of Road 16.
This work will consist of flattening and widening course loads, extending culverts and installing aggregate shoulders.
“Once that work is done, that will go into an overlay project as well,” Warden said.
The county was also awarded a Cost Share grant, in which KDOT will pay a percentage of the cost of the project, for work on Meade Lake Road.
An ongoing project for the county has been the Massoni Bridge near Kismet, and Warden said recent progress has been made on that project.
“This month, the engineering plans for the Massoni Bridge replacement will be completed,” she said. “They’re doing a geological study right now, and it’s supposed to be done this month.”
Warden said Kansas 125th House District Representative Shannon Francis and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran have been a huge help with the project, particularly when dealing with Union Pacific Railroad.
“Anytime you’re dealing with the railroad, there’s a lot of communication, a lot of red tape,” Warden said. “It takes a lot of time to work with them, and they’re not always responsive in the timeliest manner we would like them to respond in.”
Moran is on the Senate’s Appropriations Committee, and Warden said the senator recently got some appropriated funds for the Massoni Bridge project.
“We are now waiting to see if the president plans to sign off on those appropriated funds,” she said. “We were supposed to hear in November. With the election, we still haven’t heard, but we are not giving up. I also recently went to a meeting with KDOT, and they don’t want us to give up either. If something happens with appropriations, KDOT signed a letter of support as well, and they are not giving up on helping us with that project.”
