After four years of waiting for Dodge City to rebuild North 14th Avenue, Phillip Ziegler is ready for the project to get started.
"I guess we're going to just be inconvenienced, but in the long run, it's going to be great," the owner of Burkhart-Ziegler Funeral Home told the Globe on Tuesday. "Everybody's assured us that 'You're not going to lose access to your drives, and so put up with it for a while.' Because when it's all said and done, everybody's going to be happy."
Todd English, banking center president for Western State Bank, said the project will benefit the community by improving traffic flow along one of the city's major arteries.
"I think it's a step towards progress," he said.
In a little more than a month, Dodge City will start rebuilding North 14th Avenue from Comanche Street to U.S. Highway 50.
The Dodge City Commission voted unanimously Monday to award the reconstruction project to the Salina-based contractor Pavers Inc., which offered to do the work for $3.17 million. The company is expected to begin the project March 15 and has 300 days to finish, with an anticipated ending date of Jan. 10, 2010.
Commissioner Jim Sherer said he was glad that the estimated price tag was well below the engineer's estimate for the project, which came in at $4.73 million.
"I'm just elated with the $3.1 million that was the final figure," he said.
The company will probably split the project into two phases, with the first phase covering the section from Comanche Street to Soule Street, Mayor Kent Smoll told the Globe on Tuesday. He said city officials are hoping the first phase will be completed before Christmas to reduce disruptions to businesses along that section of North 14th Avenue.
The second phase will cover the stretch from Soule Street up to U.S. 50.
The commission directed city staff to fund the second phase of the reconstruction project in 2005, but the design was revised several times in the past four years as the city commission changed.
The final design will include a continuous left turning lane, a dedicated right turn lane into Wal-Mart using Burkhart Road, a sidewalk along the road and a pedestrian crosswalk light at the south entrance to Dodge City Community College.
The city's spokeswoman, Christa Roy, said that the commissioners seemed excited about moving forward with the project.
"It was very climactic to finally have them all vote, 'Yes, we can start doing that,'" she said.
Vice Mayor Rick Sowers said the project will improve the flow of traffic along North 14th Avenue, and it may encourage new businesses to look at setting up shop in that part of town.
"It'll be nice to get this thing started and upgraded," he said.
Smoll said the original design for rebuilding North 14th Avenue called for putting in a fifth lane from Comanche to just south of the north Hobby Lobby entrance. The road would have dropped back to four lanes north of Hobby Lobby, then returned to five lanes from Hobby Lobby to U.S. 50.
Smoll said the commission decided to scrap that plan in favor of an extended fifth lane that would run the entire length of the project.
"It was thought that it was going to cost significant additional dollars to do that, but we asked them to get that engineered and see what it cost," Smoll said. "And the bids came in where they really were not significantly different than the plan to go from five to four back to five.
"So it's a real addition that's going to be good for the community."
Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.
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After four years of waiting for Dodge City to rebuild North 14th Avenue, Phillip Ziegler is ready for the project to get started.
"I guess we're going to just be inconvenienced, but in the long run, it's going to be great," the owner of Burkhart-Ziegler Funeral Home told the Globe on Tuesday. "Everybody's assured us that 'You're not going to lose access to your drives, and so put up with it for a while.' Because when it's all said and done, everybody's going to be happy."
Todd English, banking center president for Western State Bank, said the project will benefit the community by improving traffic flow along one of the city's major arteries.
"I think it's a step towards progress," he said.
In a little more than a month, Dodge City will start rebuilding North 14th Avenue from Comanche Street to U.S. Highway 50.
The Dodge City Commission voted unanimously Monday to award the reconstruction project to the Salina-based contractor Pavers Inc., which offered to do the work for $3.17 million. The company is expected to begin the project March 15 and has 300 days to finish, with an anticipated ending date of Jan. 10, 2010.
Commissioner Jim Sherer said he was glad that the estimated price tag was well below the engineer's estimate for the project, which came in at $4.73 million.
"I'm just elated with the $3.1 million that was the final figure," he said.
The company will probably split the project into two phases, with the first phase covering the section from Comanche Street to Soule Street, Mayor Kent Smoll told the Globe on Tuesday. He said city officials are hoping the first phase will be completed before Christmas to reduce disruptions to businesses along that section of North 14th Avenue.
The second phase will cover the stretch from Soule Street up to U.S. 50.
The commission directed city staff to fund the second phase of the reconstruction project in 2005, but the design was revised several times in the past four years as the city commission changed.
The final design will include a continuous left turning lane, a dedicated right turn lane into Wal-Mart using Burkhart Road, a sidewalk along the road and a pedestrian crosswalk light at the south entrance to Dodge City Community College.
The city's spokeswoman, Christa Roy, said that the commissioners seemed excited about moving forward with the project.
"It was very climactic to finally have them all vote, 'Yes, we can start doing that,'" she said.
Vice Mayor Rick Sowers said the project will improve the flow of traffic along North 14th Avenue, and it may encourage new businesses to look at setting up shop in that part of town.
"It'll be nice to get this thing started and upgraded," he said.
Smoll said the original design for rebuilding North 14th Avenue called for putting in a fifth lane from Comanche to just south of the north Hobby Lobby entrance. The road would have dropped back to four lanes north of Hobby Lobby, then returned to five lanes from Hobby Lobby to U.S. 50.
Smoll said the commission decided to scrap that plan in favor of an extended fifth lane that would run the entire length of the project.
"It was thought that it was going to cost significant additional dollars to do that, but we asked them to get that engineered and see what it cost," Smoll said. "And the bids came in where they really were not significantly different than the plan to go from five to four back to five.
"So it's a real addition that's going to be good for the community."
Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.
