Much ado about nothing

Just a short blurb today, but I'll make up for it tomorrow.

There's a rumor floating around that the Kansas Avenue railroad overpass project has fallen through, or something to that effect.

I called City Manager Steve Archer today to ask him about it, but I was pretty sure I already knew what his answer would be.

In short, there's nothing to it. The project is proceeding as expected.

The start of construction was moved back to January, so perhaps that's where this rumor got started. This is pretty normal for KDOT lately, because they're swamped trying to get all of the stimulus projects done before the end of the year.

To make a long story short: The overpass will begin in January. Once the dirt ramps are built, they have to sit for six months with no settling before the bridge can be built.

Also, Archer told me the money that has been appropriated can't be spent on anything else anyway, so there's little to no chance KDOT would kill the project at this point.

Enough is enough

Well, it took something to hack me off enough to finally get me to start this thing, and the ongoing road construction in the Ark City area sure did it.

If you're going to shut off a major artery such as the U.S. 77-U.S. 166 intersection east of town, here's a brilliant idea: Don't start working on all the other roads around it while the detour is still in effect!

I've been a defender of the roundabout and KDOT throughout this process. But the county and whoever had the brilliant idea to start repaving Country Club Road before the roundabout opens? Indefensible.

And of course, one major project wasn't enough for KDOT at one time. So they started a pilot-car zone on 166 all the way east to the county border - an overlay project that caused even more inconvenience to commuters who live east of town.

Since they knocked the bypass out of commission, violators of the marked detour (mainly large trucks) have caused the following unanticipated effects:

• The three-week closure of Chestnut Avenue, restricting access to Ark City from the east to just Madison Avenue.
• The closure of the bypass between Chestnut and Madison.
• Major road damage to Country Club Road and 91st Road, which trucks have been using to avoid the detour route.

Damage to side roads was to be expected; indeed, KDOT even took detailed notes on roads such as F Street and is going to repair them after the roundabout is finished.

All of these things I could live with (and I haven't even mentioned the speed limit drop by fiat on Madison). But why on earth would you start fixing the roads before the detour is over?

The decision to start repaving Country Club Road (and rather poorly, I might add) is pretty much the last straw for me.

I've tried to have patience with the process, but now I have to go east to 91st Road, south through Parkerfield and then west on Madison to get to work.

My commute used to take seven minutes; now it takes 20. And I only live a few miles out of town. I hate to imagine how people who live farther east feel.

Even when the roundabout is done, we have the Kansas Avenue overpass project to look forward to. It could be two more years before all this madness is finally finished.

Rant over.