A road re-route was made official by Shawnee County, 21 years after it was originally made
The stretch of Docking Road between K-4 and SW 49th Street was rerouted 21 years ago. Dover township worked with the local landowner to make this happen, in 2001. No formal, written agreement was made at that time.
Thursday's county commission meeting finally made the change official.
"At the time, there were no formal documents, files, no procedures followed as far as this governing body goes," Curt Niehaus, director of public works said. "So we're going to do that today, or I hope we will."
Niehaus requested the council hold a public hearing, as Docking Road is a public road, but no members of the public wished to speak in favor or against the reroute.
The commission approved the request unanimously.
Bettis Asphalt and Construction Co. awarded contract
Public works also sought to award a contract to Bettis Asphalt to complete a pavement replacement project on the northbound lanes of SE Croco Road between the bridges of Interstate 70 and Interstate 470.
The cost is expected to be $266,399 and the project will begin on May 9th. The contract states a completion date of July 8th, though Niehaus said that with Bettis at the helm it will likely be finished "well before July 8th."
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Questions were raised on the material of choice - nine-inch concrete versus 10-inch asphalt - and Niehaus highlighted a $90,000 difference in price as the driving factor behind their decision to use asphalt.
"If the difference in cost had been closer, say half of that, we might have considered going with concrete," he said. "But with the $90,000 in savings going with asphalt we felt we could not pass that up."
The materials should offer similar longevity according to Niehaus, though he acknowledged that "traditionally" concrete pavement does last longer. However, he said that if an error is made in the laying process, "we're going to be back where we're at now 20 years from now."
Structurally speaking, the designs are identical. The commission approved this request unanimously.
Parks and Rec to move power lines for Oakland-Billard Park underground
Following wind damage sustained in December of 2021, public works is seeking authorization to repair and replace power lines in the Oakland-Billard Park. The replacement would see the lines moved underground.
Since the damage was caused by wind damage, insurance may cover some of the costs but according to John Boyd, parks and recreation are still awaiting a response from that. Otherwise, funds will come from the County's 2022 contingency funds.
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The major casualty of the replacement is the Oakland swimming pool.
"I can't guarantee it, but we anticipate being able to get the pool open on schedule," Boyd said.
This was the only question raised by Commissioner Cook on this subject.
"That's pretty important to the Oakland community," Cook said.
The council passed this request 3-0.
Alex Edwards is the local politics reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached via email at aedwards@gannett.com, or via twitter @AMEdwards21
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: After 21 years, Docking Road officially rerouted in Shawnee County
