By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

A public information meeting and open house about the upcoming reconstruction of a portion of 13th Street will be held next Tuesday, March 10, at 5:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall.

According to Assistant Public Works Director John Braun, the work will be on the four blocks between Main and Milner. The project will start at Milner and proceed west to Main.

“This project has been in the planning stages over the past year and last week the city commission awarded a bid to APAC-Kansas, Inc. of Hays at just over $2 million to replace the pavement, parking, curb and gutter, sidewalks and driveways. Intersections will be constructed with bulb-pits and brick-lined crosswalks. New storm sewer improvements and services will also be installed,” Braun explained at a news conference Tuesday morning.

Braun said each block of 13th Street will be closed as it’s worked on and then reopened as it’s completed.

“We’ve found that to be safer for the public and for the construction workers, and it makes it more efficient for the contractor to move along and not have to accommodate through-traffic.  Plus, with the storm sewer pipe going in and crossing the streets, it makes it much more efficient being able to shut down the street in its entirety and cross the streets with the pipes,” Braun added.

The reconstruction work on 13th Street is scheduled to start March 23 and conclude at the end of October.

Letters of invitation to Tuesday’s meeting have been mailed to property owners and tenants adjacent to the project.