HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Engineering staff recommended to the Hutchinson City Council putting in a single roundabout at Avenue A to solve the Woodie Seat Freeway issue as part of its Thursday night study session at City Hall.
City councilwoman Sara Bagwell was not in attendance at the meeting during the formal presentation by engineering staff. The other four council members were there.
The railroad is one of the reasons the bridges on Woodie Seat are there, and the option of taking out all of the bridges and putting streets down to at grade at Ave F, which was presented, but without as much study as the other options, could cause potential conflict with the railroads.
"The City of Hutchinson does not have railroads in it," said Assistant City Engineer Jessica Lowe. "The railroads allow the City of Hutchinson to exist around them. We get permission from them to cross their crossings, they don't get permission from us to cross our street. If suddenly we have 10,000 extra vehicles a day that normally go over them now trying to cross them, they likely would not approve that. Not only would they not approve it, they may, and definitely have the authority to remove our permits to cross. They could close crossings."
Other options were presented for either a one lane or two lane T intersection at Avenue A or leaving the bridges as is.
All of the options would have a construction cost of at least $7 million.
1. A one lane T intersection with stop control is estimated at $7,194,000.
2. A two lane T intersection with stop control is estimated at $7,309,000.
3. A single roundabout, is estimated at $7,230,000.
4. Preserving the bridges and replacing the Avenue B bridge and repairing the bridges on Avenues A and C is estimated at $8,060,000.
5. Removing the Woodie Seat bridges at Avenue F and creating a new at grade entrance is estimated at $7,050,000.
The bridge repairs on Avenue C if the road is kept the same could be more expensive than the estimate, if the railroad deems additional work necessary.
"Our estimate comes with a giant caveat that our costs could be even higher than that depending on railroad cooperation and what kind of requirements they may have," Lowe said. "We heard a story from one of our bridge consultants that a railroad wouldn't allow KDOT to do a repair project over their railroad. It's like, we have to repair the bridge and they weren't really playing ball. It makes things expensive and difficult, for sure."
It's important to note that the city was transferred responsibility for the Woodie Seat Freeway from KDOT in 2005 after K-96 was rerouted, so the city has had less than 20 years of responsibility for what are now over 60-year-old bridges that were supposed to have a 50-year lifespan when built.
Those options will all be presented again for a final time at the SW Bricktown neighborhood meeting Monday night at 6:30 p.m. at Avenue A school.
The council needs to make a final decision in the month of February if they want to have any chance at KDOT cost share dollars for whatever project they choose.