🎥 Diamond grinding was in the rough

diamond grinding 2 — Diamond grinding on a potion of east 27th Street was not finished by the original contractor after the city found the work unsatisfactory.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

If you’ve driven over the areas, you’ve probably noticed some recent maintenance work on parts of Canterbury and 27th Streets in Hays was not successful.

As part of the 2016 Street Maintenance program, diamond grinding was performed last month on sections of the concrete pavement on Canterbury between 12th and 13th and on 27th from Vine to Sherman.

The company hired to do the work made two passes to grind off bumps and make the pavement smooth but was unable to achieve the level of ride improvement expected by the city, according to Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood.

diamond grinding 1 — Diamond grinding removes a thin top portion of the concrete pavement to smooth out bumps.

The city decided to have the company–APAC’s grinding subcontractor Interstate Grinding of Garden City–halt its work before the project was completed.

“They weren’t able to grind enough off to really have an effect on the streets, so if you’re driving those areas today, they’re still pretty bumpy,” Wood said.

The city did not pay the company the entire amount due in the contract agreement. “We ceased the contract. We didn’t pay them the full amount”, he said.

City staff is recommending a contract be made with the next low bidder, West Fork LLC, Iowa, to redo the work. “Actually, their equipment is a little bit larger,” Wood added, and they’ve done some work in the community in the past.”

The $168,080 cost would come out of Special Highway Funding.

Commissioners will discuss the situation at their work session tonight. The August 4 agenda can be viewed here.