🎥 Park sidewalks making city more ‘transportation-friendly’

Weston Groth, Dustin Hynes Construction, smooths a section of new sidewalk on the west side of Ekey Park.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

When the up and down temperatures this winter are up, the guys at Dustin Hynes Construction have been building more sidewalks in three Hays parks.

Work in Frontier Park, Old Highway 40, is completed.

In East Frontier Park, that includes an area connecting the shelter to what was called the old swinging bridge. “While they were in there, we also had them go ahead connect to the playground unit as well so folks would have a sidewalk to it for access,” said Jeff Boyle, director of parks for the city of Hays.

“Across the bridge in North Frontier Park, they actually took out a section of asphalt sidewalks that were buckled really bad and went back in and poured that in with concrete.

Ekey Park, 19th and Holmes, now has a sidewalk around its entire perimeter.

“Both those areas turned out really nice.”

The workers then moved on to Ekey Park, 19th and Holmes. Sidewalks were already in place on the north and east sides of the park and are now connected on the south and west sides. “We wanted to get those completed. A lot of folks use those sidewalks while they’re kids are playing on the equipment,” Bole said. “It’s a good opportunity for parents to get in their own exercise.”

Working on a recent cold sunny day, Jamie Hynes and Weston Groth slowly smoothed the newly laid concrete to eliminate holes.

“They’re making it flat and sealing it up,” explained owner Dustin Hynes. “If you leave holes, water can get down in it, freeze and then expand, popping up the top a little.”

Traffic cones block foot traffic from the new sidewalk as it dries.

Even when the temperature falls below freezing, work is not necessarily halted.

“If it gets that cold, we cover the sidewalk with blankets made for concrete only that keeps it from freezing,” Hynes said. “If the ground is not froze, we can work.”

Hynes Construction is now working on the third and final phase of the project at Hickok Park, 26th and Donald, which has no sidewalks.

“We’re trying to get sidewalks put in where there are needs. This work was requested by the Public Works Department. It’s a high use area and there’s actually a trail worn in the grass,” Boyle said.

“We’ve been looking at making our community transportation-friendly and that includes sidewalks. There are several areas in town where we have no sidewalks but there is literally a dirt path worn in where you can tell hundreds of people have been walking through the grass. So we’re trying to make those areas more user-friendly.”

Sidewalk installation can be done even in freezing temperatures.

Total cost of the three parks’ sidewalks was $55,900.

Next year, Boyle wants to work on Rolling Hills Park, 41st and Autumn Lane. “We’d like to connect at 41st and Hall, where there are already crosswalks and a sidewalk on 41st, on the southeast corner of the intersection. We’d connect the sidewalk and bring it down through Rolling Hills Park. Right now you can’t safely get from 41st over to Rolling Hills or to the houses on east.”

Boyle says some stormwater issues in that area will have to first be considered. “This will be a pretty significant project so it might just be this one on the next go-around.”