🎥 City to discuss 37th St. extension; commissioner offers alternative

Four traffic roundabouts are included in the North Vine Street Corridor Improvement Plan, as well as extension of 37th Street to the west.

By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The Hays city commission will discuss a portion of the North Vine Corridor Improvements project during their meeting tonight, specifically the 37th/Skyline/41st connection.

Staff will present a detailed review of the connection to Vine Street, the options explored and the underlying factors that led to the choice.

During last week’s work session, Commissioner Sandy Jacobs, who lives in the area, suggested an alternative to the current plan.

“I’ve been driving the area, looking for some possibilities,” Jacobs said, adding that she has talked to City Manager Toby Dougherty about her idea. “There’s two sets of stop signs up there, one at 35th and Fort and one at 37th and Fort. They actually stop north/south traffic.

“I think it would be a good idea to consider changing the direction of those stop signs.”

Jacobs said she and the other commissioners have heard from residents in that area.

“I think their concerns about traffic going through their [neighborhood] quickly can be waylaid if [traffic on 37th] has to stop at Willow, then they have to stop at Fort, then they have to stop at Skyline,” she said.

“If I were driving it, I would route myself around 41st where there is no stop sign,” Jacobs said. “I’d like to recommend that we look into that and possibly move forward with that.”

“They [stop signs] can easily be switched around,” said Dougherty.

Four traffic roundabouts are to be constructed on Vine Street/U.S. Highway 183 at 32nd/33rd, 37th, 41st Streets, and a partial roundabout at the eastbound exit ramp of Interstate 70.

A portion of the engineering contract for the Vine Street traffic roundabouts includes extension of 37th Street to the west. (Click to enlarge)

In addition, the corridor project calls for W. 37th to be extended west to the new development area and for West 41st — the west frontage road — to be realigned to meet West 37th further west than the existing intersection location. A new public street would be constructed south of the new intersection to maintain access to the existing gas station south of West 37th.

Nearby homeowners spoke to the commission last month about their opposition to the proposed 37th Street extension, citing concerns about increased traffic and the possibility of falling property values.

Other agenda items for May 23 include:

Award of bid and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant application for a new airport truck and snow plow
- Bruckner Truck Sales Inc., Hays, presented the low bid of $271,039 for a Mack Granite 42FR truck and a 16 foot snow plow. The bid award is contingent upon an FAA grant for federal funding which would decrease the total city share to $27,103.90.
Award of bid for sewer cleaning and video inspection of lines
- Pro-Pipe, Denver, has the low bid of $97,854.51 to perform light cleaning and video inspection of 105,759 linear feet of sanitary sewer .
Award of bid for a dump truck for the Water Resources Department
- The low bid is $101,717 from Summit Truck Group, Salina, for a 2019 HV607 International Truck with the Henderson Mark E body.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hal, 1507 Main.