By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
“This is the one proposal that solves the most problems for the most people on both sides of the interstate.”
That’s the conclusion of Hays Mayor James Meier who supports the hiring of WSP engineers, Lenexa, to design a series of three roundabouts on north Vine Street to improve traffic flow.
Scott Jordan, whose family owns the Pheasant Run restaurant at 3201 Vine St., is not among “most people.”
He and his mother, Sue Jordan, told the commission Thursday night they’re concerned about access to their 36-year-old restaurant if the roundabouts are built.
“With this, instead of having two access points to our business, we will only have one,” Scott Jordan said. “That’s basically hamstringing us.”
City commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of the $398,895.26 low bid. Vice-Mayor Henry Schwaller remained opposed as he had announced during last week’s work session, citing the need for public input.
The proposal, in collaboration with the Kansas Dept. of Transportation (KDOT), calls for a double roundabout at 32nd/33rd, another roundabout at 37th, and a third north of Interstate 70 at 41st Street.
Jordan was curious why the city had not purchased the former Montana Mike’s lot from the mall owners when the restaurant was closed in November 2013 and then razed. “It could have made the 32nd Street intersection go straight through (across Vine) and then we wouldn’t have to be messing with any of this junk,” Jordan said.
Schwaller is the only person on the current city commission who was also serving five years ago.
“We just didn’t have the money,” Schwaller told Jordan, “but now we do. The city was going to work with the owner of the mall and we estimated the project cost to be a certain amount. When it go to the point of actually making it happen, it exceeded that dollar amount. I don’t like this answer because it could have been done. We could have issued a bond, anything, but we just decided we couldn’t afford it.”
The space at the northwest corner of Big Creek Crossing’s property is now occupied by HaysMed Walk-in Clinic and Starbucks.
According to Hays Project Manager John Braun there are approximately 31 crashes per year in the roundabout study area between 32nd and 41st Streets, with most occurring at the intersection of 32nd and the west frontage road.
Jordan already knows that. It’s exactly where the Pheasant Run is located.
“The accident rate there is 2.5 times higher than the statewide average for urban intersections,” Braun noted, “and crashes will become more frequent as traffic increases if no action is taken.
Braun, who was asked to present a list of FAQs, Frequently Asked Questions, also said the “roundabouts present a safer road environment by disconnecting the frontage (access) roads and eliminating conflict points like left turns across traffic.”
According to Jordan, many of his customers use the access road to get to the restaurant.
Braun stressed several times the current design is still a concept. He told the commission WSP intends to bring in a third-party firm from Oklahoma to review and tweak the concept. “There’ll be another opportunity to review that concept plan before we go into full design.”
Another audience member, Ron Adams, who told the commission he previously worked for Bucher, Willis & Ratliff engineering in Hays, asked if 37th Street could be made into an on-ramp for I-70, and other entrance and exit ramps be eliminated.
“K-DOT won’t allow it,” commissioners responded.
Vine Street is also a federal highway, U.S. 183. “We asked about doing that at 41st and kind of sandwiching it with the off-ramp,” Meier said, “and K-DOT won’t allow anything like that.”
Meier also pointed out an earlier study which recommended reverse access roads “was a perfectly acceptable solution. It was expensive and involved the taking of private property, including houses on the west side of 33rd Street.”
“In the late ’90s, the commission had the opportunity to align 32nd and 33rd but because there were houses along there, they didn’t want to take property,” said Meier.
Commissioner Shaun Musil assured Jordan and his mother, who apologized for “being emotional,” that he was confident Braun, City Manager Toby Dougherty, and the city commission would stay in contact with the family as the engineering begins. “I don’t want to hurt your business. You guys have been known in Hays ever since I’ve been here, for years,” Musil said, “and I want you to stay around Hays.”
Jordan has previously had problems with customer access to his restaurant.
“Years ago when all the beautification was done (in the Vine Street medians), I know it was all Mom could do to keep the doors open because it just shut off the flow of traffic,” Jordan told commissioner. “And that’s what the roundabouts are, seemingly, kind of wanting to do to us, let alone with the construction.”
Engineering is expected to take about 18 months with construction to begin in 2020.
“I just want to make sure I get a chance to sit down and see if we can’t improve on this before I’m stuck,” Jordan said. “I want to keep the families that I employ employed and make sure this community grows.”