By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Hays Mayor Henry Schwaller is “still a roundabout skeptic.” Vice-Mayor Shaun Musil is not a skeptic.
Commissioner Sandy Jacobs is encouraging the public to attend next Tuesday’s open house about the North Vine Street Corridor Improvement Project.
“It’s really exciting and that’s when some of the best stuff comes, when you bring people together and ask questions,” Jacobs said.
John Braun, city project manager, updated the city commission Thursday night about the plan, which includes three traffic roundabouts and one partial teardrop roundabout on Vine/U.S. 183 between 32nd and 41st streets.
The most recent addition to the plan is a partial roundabout called a “teardrop” at the eastbound exit ramp of Interstate 70.
POLL: What do you think about proposed Vine Street improvements?
The teardrop was added after consultant WSP Engineers asked for an independent review of the plan by Kittelson & Associates, a nationwide firm which specializes in transportation projects.
Traffic going eastbound will be able to pull off the interstate, go through the teardrop, and head directly north on Vine rather than having to drive further south to the 37th Street roundabout to then head north.
The median on Vine will be replaced by a roundabout at 41st and Mopar. Left turns and cross traffic are currently prohibited at the location. “The roundabout would provide excellent access to and from businesses in that area,” Braun said.
He noted the four roundabouts will accommodate semis with 53-foot trailers and oversized loads such as those carrying wind turbine blades and tower sections.
The 32nd and 37th Street roundabouts will disconnect the current frontage roads, which may cause increased traffic volume at 35th Street, where Arby’s and Hickok’s Steakhouse are located.
“To ease the congestion there, we’re changing to a 3/4 intersection which reduces the traffic conflict points from 66 to 28,” Braun explained. “It improves pedestrian safety north and south along the frontage roads.
“From Vine, you’ll still be able to make right and left turns onto the frontage roads, but you’ll only be able to make a right turn out to Vine. Therefore, motorists wanting to turn left will have to turn right, go to the nearest roundabout and make a U-turn.”
Discussion turned to the deteriorated west frontage road as Schwaller asked whether it should be repaved.
“It’s on our priority list,” said Toby Dougherty, city manager, “either the top year or the second year.”
Commissioner James Meier also asked if the city should add dedicated parking along the frontage road.
“Maybe parallel parking between Vine and the frontage road. Drivers have created it themselves. I don’t think it’s actually supposed to exist,” he said.
Commissioner Ron Mellick pointed out the plan calls for a sidewalk. It would run the full length of the west frontage road similar to what is on the east frontage road.
“The sidewalk is actually very important. I don’t want to take away from that,” Meier said. “If there’s a way we can accommodate some of those businesses with parking, such as Freddy’s, I think we should take a look at it. Maybe we could do it on both sides.”
“If you have off-street parking and a sidewalk, there’s going to have to be some sort of separation there,” Mellick said. He also wondered if the businesses would be assessed the additional cost of the parking.
Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood has been in meetings with all the affected Vine Street business owners.
“Not a single one has said anything about the parking through there,” he told the commission. “Nobody has said we’d like to have parking or we think it’s necessary. Nobody said that.”
“This is just me thinking out loud,” Meier said.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Jacobs said. “When we start these projects, I think sometimes we need to think outside of the box and outside of the project about what we can do because we’re doing work at that time. It doesn’t make sense to finish something and then say why didn’t we do that?
“What’s extra bad about those streets is when it rains, people don’t stay on that street. So you have these big gullies right off on the side. Not only are they unattractive, they’re dangerous.
“I think we should look in to possibly doing it,” she concluded. Musil agreed with Jacobs, noting there are often vehicles pulling trailers parked in the grass and gravel.
“We’ll take a look at it,” promised Dougherty. “People are obviously parking there now and we’ve struggled with that.”
The “peanut” roundabout at 32nd and 33rd Streets allows the two intersections to operate as one.
“The hourglass shape has a smaller footprint to minimize the amount of additional right of way required and slows the travel speed as compared to an oval,” explained Braun. “Disconnecting the north and south frontage streets at 32nd reduces conflict points by two-thirds of what they are now.”
With the addition of the teardrop roundabout, the overall project cost estimate has increased from $7.6 million to $9.3 million, plus the expense of acquiring right of way. The city has been awarded a federal BUILD grant of $6,057.827 to cover construction costs. The remaining amount will be paid with a dedicated 20-year two percent increase in the transient guest tax.
Preliminary design is expected to be completed in March, with a final design in November. Bid opening would begin in April 2020 with construction planned to start in June 2020. The project is scheduled to be finished in November 2021.
The city will host a come-and-go open house for the public 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, at the Venue at Thirsty’s, 2704 Vine. Refreshments will be served.
An extra-large map of the traffic corridor between 32nd and 41st streets will feature the proposed four roundabouts. Numerous poster boards will suggest topics for discussion.
City staff, engineers and KDOT representatives will be on hand to answer questions.
“We don’t know what’ll come out of it. But please take the time to come and attend,” urged Jacobs.
The updated information about the traffic corridor plan is available on the city’s website, www.haysusa.com.