NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Interim Hutchinson City Manager Gary Meagher said the process of getting solutions for the Woodie Seat Freeway continues.
"Phase one is currently under design," Meagher said. "That would be the portion between the river bridge and Avenue C. We're designing that for a mill and overlay, removing the median, doing some storm sewer work and improving the guardrails. We're applying for a cost share grant through KDOT. If we would get that, the funds would be available in July of 2023."
If they find out they didn't get the grant, it may actually happen sooner.
"I still believe the project will start sometime in 2023," Meagher said. "It could start a little bit earlier than July possibly, because the design will be done. We are looking at working with the county. The county is looking at bridge improvements on the Woodie Seat over the river. We think it will score a lot better in the evaluation from KDOT, because they like to see regionalism, or communities working together."
The solutions to Avenue B and Avenue A, the bridges that are the city's responsibility, are still in the design process, as well.
"The engineers presented really, three options," Meagher said. "One, that would be kind of the original plan, you might say, that would cut off Avenue B. They also provided an option that showed a walkway only under the Woodie Seat project and then the other one would be that there would actually be an opportunity for vehicular traffic, a two lane road, if you will, that goes under. It wouldn't look the same as a bridge. It would be kind of a box that would be covered with some dirt and the roadway would be over it. They are evaluating those options and the costs and those kind of things. Right now, I think they're going to come back to city council with some of those costs and price out some of those options. That would probably be sometime in October."
Until the costs come back, there is no way to know how long that phase of the project will take to complete.