BonnerSprings.com

Old man winter may have been cruel to Bonner Springs streets this year, but the costs for street repairs won’t be much more than last year’s.

At its work session before the regular meeting Monday night, the Bonner Springs City Council gave the go-ahead to the Public Works Department to complete an estimated $645,000 worth of street work, including repairs, which compares to last year’s approximately $640,000 in street work.

The figure might have been even lower this year if not for the need to replace the traffic lights at Cedar and Front Street, two of which came down last week as the result of high winds and rusted bases on two aged streetlight poles. The estimated cost to replace all the intersection’s traffic signals is $140,000.

Matt Beets, project manager for the city, presented to the Council a report on the department’s recommended streets program for the year, which included milling and overlaying street surfaces, chipseal, full-depth asphalt repair and replacement of curbs, flatwork and sidewalks.

Most of the $645,000 will come from the Public Works streets budget; $165,851 of the sum comes from the Wyandotte Countywide Initiative for Funding Infrastructure program.

Streets slated to receive full-depth repair are eastbound Morse Avenue between Kansas Highway 32 and MacGrantwood, and eastbound Kansas Avenue between 32nd and 134th streets.

Beets’ report to the Council said a permanent solution was necessary for Metropolitan Avenue to keep it drivable, and at the advice of a roadway expert the street will undergo a process called “recycle in place” for the span of the road from Nettleton Avenue to 134th Street. The recycle in place method involves milling a new, 1-inch layer of aggregate with three to four inches of the existing roadbed. Then the road is compacted and graded for drainage, and finally topped with a new 2-inch layer of asphalt.

Replacement of the traffic lights at Cedar and Front will take at least 90 days, Public Works director Kevin Bruemmer said, because it will take that long for the order to be filled by the manufacturer. Doing without the signals and keeping the intersection a four-way stop is not a real option, said City Manager John Helin, because it’s more complex than most such intersections, with four lanes on Front Street, and heavy trucks passing throughout the day.

In other actions, the Council:

• Approved payment of claims for city operations for $480,493.

• Approved claims for public housing for $17,582.

• Approved unanimously Beets’ recommendation to reject two bids for the completion of the walking trail from North Park to Pioneer Drive.

Beets said the two bids, at $77,690 and $135,450, were both higher per linear foot for less work than construction of the first trail portion required.

• Heard proclamations by Mayor Clausie Smith honoring the Bonner Springs Fire Department and other volunteers for National Volunteer Week; and honoring Rita Hoag, city clerk, and Kris Reinert, deputy city clerk, for Municipal Clerks Week.

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