By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Hays city commissioners will vote Thursday whether to hire an engineering firm to design three traffic roundabouts on north Vine Street.
The proposal, in collaboration with the Kansas Dept. of Transportation, is the most recent recommendation for improving traffic flow between 32nd and 41st Streets.
WSP of Lenexa has the low bid of $398,895.26 for engineering services in the design of roundabouts and other improvements as detailed in the January 2018 Vine Street Corridor Study. It would be funded from the Convention and Visitors Bureau contingency fund.
Commissioner Chris Dinkel believes the series of roundabouts is “an excellent solution, whether the public is tremendously enthused or not. I think there are a lot of things for a government to do that aren’t necessarily going to be popular. This may be one of them.”
During last week’s work session, Project Manager John Braun said if the project were to proceed as recommended, bids would be requested in late 2019 for construction to begin in 2020. “The improvements on Vine Street did wind up in the priority queue of the 2018 Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) at a cost of $9 million,” Braun noted. Since then, the project scope has been refined by WSP and the cost estimate is now $7.6 million.
Commissioners talked about the consequences of building the roundabouts in stages or even constructing fewer than the recommended three, which includes a double roundabout at 32nd and 33rd Streets.
“If we push it off, we are putting the $400,000 (for design) and the entire idea at risk,” Dinkel said, “because you can end up with some very substantial election pressure on the current city commission come the end of 2019. We may really get hammered on this. In fact, I’m kind of planning on it. There could be an anti-roundabout contingency running in 2019.”
According to Hays City Clerk Brenda Kitchen there will be three open seats on the city commission in 2020: Chris Dinkel, James Meier and Henry Schwaller. Sandy Jacobs and Shaun Musil are up for re-election in 2022.
Commissioner Musil campaigned for his seat last fall in support of roundabouts. “I always said yes, if the funding’s there and we can do it right.”
Dinkel said he isn’t worried about the election. “I’m worried about this vote being in January and you have an entirely new commission that votes it down immediately. I think this (current) commission is supportive.”
Braun told commissioners the environmental reviews could possibly begin in a limited scope if the project timeline were pushed back.
Below is a simulation of how the proposed roundabouts would work during peak traffic times in Hays. It is also available on the city’s website.
https://youtu.be/SCarN_8hr6E
The May 24 agenda can be seen here. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main.