By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
After a lengthy discussion Tuesday, the Ellis County Commission elected to wait a couple of weeks to decide on a grant that could lead to the closure of the 12th Street bridge in Hays.
Ellis County Public Works Director Brendan Mackey presented the commission with a proposal this week to close the deteriorating bridge on the western edge of Hays, with the idea of using the grant funds received from the closure to repair a bridge over the Saline River in northern Ellis County.
Mackey said changes, he and other members of the Kansas County Highway Association were able to negotiate with the Kansas Department of Transportation on expanded options for closing a bridge and using the funds to repair other bridges in the highway system that are in poor condition.
The recommendation from Mackey was to submit a grant in which the county would close the 12th Street bridge. If approved, the county would use about $232,000 to repair a bridge 12.5 miles north of Ellis on 125th Avenue over the Saline River.
“With the way the grant is written now, we would have no cost for the cost share,” Mackey said. “The only costs we would have would be the non-participating costs, which would be the preliminary engineering and the right of way acquisition.”
An engineer also recommended closing the 12th Street bridge. Mackey said they have had several engineers over several years look at it and recommend the same closure.
Mackey and County Administrator Darin Myers told the commission while they have never invited city officials to a commission meeting to discuss the bridge, the two entities have had discussions about the bridge. Myers said he has email confirmation the city did not have concerns about closing the bridge.
The bridge is almost entirely within the city limits of Hays. When the Eighth Street bridge was replaced by Ellis County in 2008-9 the county paid for the construction, even though a portion of it is in city limits. Mackey said they do not believe the city would be willing to pay for work on the 12th Street bridge.
Mackey said there are 11 bridges in Ellis County that are considered “poor.” The 12th Street bridge is one of those 11. County Commissioner Michael Berges asked if the county could use the grant to close a similar bridge and use the funds from closure to repair the 12th Street bridge.
Mackey said the county could do that and even if they elected to close the 12th Street bridge they could open it back up and add it back to the road system in Ellis County.
“Just like if we build a road that hasn't existed before, we can add a bridge to our system, because this will be taken off of our system,” Mackey said. “A county could come back and five years, 10 years or tomorrow and decide no we want to fund this structure. We feel it's vital to the growth of our county.”
Berges said the county has to work to figure out a long-term plan for fixing the deteriorating bridges within Ellis County.
“Is that part of the plan is to continue to use this process,
so that's what we're looking at doing for 12 Street this year?” Berges said. “Are
we looking at another bridge next year to close to rehab another one and another
one? I mean, are we looking at shrinking down our bridge population for lack of
a better term and have to go through this kind of commission?”
Mackey said they did identify a bridge that is oversized and needs to be replaced north of Ellis that would be replaced by a culvert and the county could apply for the $50,000 in grants.
Residents who live in the area voiced their concerns with the commission about the possibility of the closure. They claimed the bridge was left to fail and that the county does not have the data as to why the bridge exists.
Mackey said they have done traffic studies and he presented the commission with that data last year. It shows that the numbers lean heavily toward people using Eighth Street and not 12th Street.
“I don’t want to take structures out, I want everyone to get where they are going safely,” Mackey said. “The problem is the county and city didn’t act in a timely matter to this infrastructure so something has to give somewhere.”
He also presented the commission with the option to change the grant application. They can apply for the application with the closure of the bridge northwest of Ellis, which would net the county $50,000, and then fund the replacement of the 12th Street bridge without grant funds.
He estimated that the bridge replacement would cost more than $1 million. It would have to be a complete replacement.
“Having a closure gives you more points towards being selected (for the grant),” Mackey said.
He also said there isn’t as much funding for this area because of the small population.
A similar grant was accepted in years past that allowed Ellis County to close a bridge.
Hays Attorney John T. Bird was one of the speakers in opposition to the closure. Bird lives near the bridge on 12th Street.
He brought up several concerns to the commission including the ability of emergency vehicles to get across the railroad tracks in the event of a train derailment and the amount of traffic that uses the bridge.
He urged the commission to repair the bridge and then fund a replacement in the future.
Bird also said because the residents whose homes are in that area pay several hundred thousand dollars in taxes and said, “We deserve to have that (the repairs.)”
Mackay said the repairs, to make it smooth, will accelerate the wear and tear off the bridge deck. He does not recommend just making repairs to the bridge because it could shorten the lifespan of the bridge.
Former County Commissioner Glenn Deihl also addressed the commission and said they were aware of the condition of the bridges.
“There was a long-term plan in place, unfortunately, the county had other priorities and the plan went to the wayside,” Deihl said.
The current commission has worked in recent years to begin setting aside money in a special highway and road and bridge fund to pay to replace the aging county infrastructure.
The commission elected to table the issue. Berges wants Mackey to put together two different grants.
The first would recommend the closure of the structure on the county line northwest of Ellis that would then be turned into a culvert.
The second grant proposal would be to close the 12th Street bridge.
Mackey said if the commission has any doubts about closing the 12th Street bridge, he urged the commission to not use the grant application. If the county accepts the funds and then elects not to close the bridge, it will have a negative effect the next time Ellis County applies for a KDOT grant.
Commission Nathan Leiker said the county needs to get the process started.
“We have to start repairs, that’s been my focus,” Leiker said. “The process that it started today will see very, very little action, publicly, for a year and a half, more of less.”
Mackey said the grant that they applied for last fall, in 2022, was called the 2024 Off System Highway Grant because the state’s start dates are so far out.
Leiker said they may have to make some improvements to the 12th Street bridge in the near future but if it becomes unsafe for travel, then they will have to close the bridge.
“I’d rather be proactive and prevent an accident then have a catastrophic failure,” Leiker said.
The weight limit, according to Mackey is 15 tons, and an engineer has recommended the county reduce the weight limit.
“If we have an engineer’s report out there currently stating that the weight limit needs to be restricted, I think that needs to be done,” Leiker said. “Not when, but now.”
The grant application deadline is May 25.
The commission's final meeting in the month of May is May 16.