By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
There is only one agenda item for tonight’s Hays City Commission work session and the topic is something that has generated considerable discussion in past meetings.
Commissioners will review the recommended selection of an engineering firm for design services of the roundabout corridor on north Vine Street.
John Braun, Hays project manager, will first present some history of the traffic roundabout proposal.
The configuration of Vine Street between 32nd and 41st streets has been the topic of several studies over the last 25 years. The demolition of the former Ambassador Hotel initiated the latest study on this stretch of Vine, which is also part of U.S. Highway 183.
In December 2015, the city entered an agreement with WSP (formerly Parsons-Brinkerhoff) of Lenexa to conduct a traffic impact study for potential redevelopment of the Ambassador Hotel location, 3603 Vine. That information evolved into a full study of the Vine Street Corridor from south of 32nd Street to north of 41st and Mopar Drive, north of Interstate 70. It resulted in the recommendation to install a series of traffic roundabouts on Vine Street.
“The years of studies have been about creating efficiencies and helping the travel and flow on Vine from 32nd and 33rd all the way up to 41st and Mopar Drive,” said Assistant City Manager Jacob Wood.
City staff and engineers have been working with the Kansas Department of Transportation on a concept that would replace the traffic signals in the corridor with roundabouts, a move designed to improve traffic flow and reduce the number and severity of accidents.
The recommendation from WSP calls for an hourglass, or double, roundabout at 32nd/33rd, another roundabout at 37th, and a fourth roundabout north of I-70 at 41st and Mopar.
“We’ve talked about this for a long time and this is the next step in getting the project going.”
Wood said there’s a lot of work that needs to be done for a project this size even though some some preliminary studies have already been done.
The engineers will have to do surveys, which he doesn’t expect will disrupt traffic on the heavily-traveled street.
“We anticipate it will take about a year to do that. If the commission gives them the go-ahead in the next couple of weeks, I anticipate we’d have something ready to bid at the end of 2019 or early 2020 for a project that would take place in 2020.”
Since there are still a lot of unknowns, according to Wood, there may be different ways to phase out the project over time, “but we do anticipate it’s going to take over a year to do the design.”
The cost of engineering services by WSP is a low bid of $398,895.26, which would be financed from the Convention and Visitors Bureau Contingency Fund.
A link on the city of Hays website simulates traffic roundabout flow on Vine.
The May 17 work session agenda is available here. The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in Hays City Hall, 1507 Main.