By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

ELLIS COUNTY – Ellis County celebrated the reopening of a bridge southwest of Hays Tuesday morning with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

According to Public Works Director Bill Ring, the bridge located on 180th Avenue over the Smokey Hill River southwest of Hays, was considered fracture critical, meaning that if a portion of the bridge were to fail, the entire structure could collapse.

County Commissioner Dean Haselhorst said the county is grateful for the help from the Kansas Department of Transportation.

“A lot of times when people think of KDOT you’re thinking of I-70, 183 the main corridors that go across Kansas and to have KDOT partner with us out in rural Ellis County it’s a great opportunity,” said Haselhorst.

The county took advantage of a Kansas Department of Transportation grant that made it an 80-20 split between the two entities. Ellis County was responsible for 20-percent of the $1 millon project. The county also covered the preliminary engineering costs.

The new structure replaces the previous bridge that had been in place since the 1940s.

Ring said there are more than 200 bridges in Ellis County and said it takes “a lot of revenue to keep this operation going.”

Crews completed construction on a second bridge northwest of Hays on Yocemento Avenue earlier this year.