By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The timeline on the Cow Creek improvement project for the City of Hutchinson is still uncertain, according to Director of Engineering, Jeff Peterson.
"I'm cautiously optimistic on anything that could potentially help us as far as some of the railroad bridges," Peterson said. "We wanted to get, kind of, our ducks in a row, as far as some of those things, before we proceed and spend a whole bunch of money at once. We're trying to be good about what we spend and what we want to move forward with in that corridor, some of the hangups have been the railroad bridges. We're trying to move those things along right now. It's just been a slow process."
Council member Jon Daveline wants to see the process move as fast as it can.
"I guess I just can't emphasize enough for us to keep pushing and have our engineering firm keep pushing and pushing and pushing in a cooperative way with these railroads to get these issues resolved so we can ultimately get on with the project," Daveline said.
Peterson told Daveline they would know more soon.
"In the next couple of weeks, we'll hear a little bit more from one of the railroads," Peterson said. "They've had some discussions with the K&O Railroad and haven't really come to the final conclusions on that one yet. There has been some movement, I guess. At least they are entertaining some of the options at this point. At first, we didn't know that they would."
Peterson is hopeful that they can get something negotiated with all three railroads sometime in 2021.