BonnerSprings.com

Bonner Springs is bustling with city projects.

The first to be finished is the addition to the Public Works Department’s offices and shop. The department recently moved into its new office space, a 1,500-square foot addition to its location at 12401 Kaw Drive.

The addition has “absolutely” made life easier for staff, said Matt Beets, city project manager.

“There were five of us sharing three offices,” Beets said. Now the director, Kevin Bruemmer, has a larger office, and Beets and the department secretary each have their own, and there’s another room for a second codes inspector, a position that the City Council approved the creation of this year.

The new space also features a conference room, which Beets said makes it easier to meet with engineers and contractors, obviating the need to go to City Hall or use the break room — which could be noisy sometimes — for such meetings.

The city was able to save money when the city engineer, Wilson and Company, donated the furniture, including a conference table, from its recently shuttered Lenexa office.

The project’s contractor, Reinwald Construction, also built a 3,200-square-foot metal building to be used as a shop for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

One of the city’s more visible projects, or its preparation anyway, can be seen along Kump Street between Nettleton and 138th Street, where utility poles are being relocated to accommodate the widening of the road.

The utility relocation, which will also include the replacement of a water main, should be finished by the middle of November, Beets said.

The project has been let for bids and once they’re received, the Kansas Department of Transportation will review them and make its recommendation to the city.

“The contractor should start the project in January or February,” Beets said.

The other, high-visibility traffic project in the city is all but finished, and likely causing some motorists to wonder. Nearly two weeks after being erected, the new stoplights at Cedar and Front streets are not in operation.

What’s missing is electricity. Westar had been set to turn the power to the stoplights on soon after the stoplights were up, Beets said, but delays by the company have moved back the date to some time this week.

Yet another street project, the Woodend Bridge replacement, is close to having its driving surface laid.

The new library’s construction is also progressing apace, with much of the roof completed, most of the beams in place, the concrete poured and the basement, including a FEMA-approved storm shelter, nearly finished.

Grading for the parking lot on the building’s north has begun and the project is still on schedule to be completed in March, Beets said, despite delays caused by wet weather.

In Edwardsville, the Woodend Road project is about halfway completed, said City Administrator Mike Webb.

The $1.2 million project is contracted to McAneny construction to widen the road from 98th Street to just before the entrance to the Federal Express freight center at 9140 Woodend Drive.

The next big project for Edwardsville is in the study phase, with city engineer Cook, Flatt and Strobel assessing improvements needed on Edwardsville Drive from Interstate 70 to Kansas Highway 32.

The city will also ask for public input, Webb said, to figure out what should be done to the road.

“Obviously, the road has deteriorated and it’s too narrow,” Webb said.

Beyond that, for example, the number of lanes needed and what kind of drainage the road needs will be discussed in public meetings and “probably before the year’s out a survey will be going out,” Webb said.

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