Street Project Tops 2011 To Do List

By Doug Carder

A $1.25 million street improvement project and preparing the grant application for the second phase of the public library renovation headline the list of construction projects on City Manager Bret Glendening’s to-do list in 2011.

The city’s major street improvement project will overhaul Brown Avenue from 14th to 18th streets, Pacific Avenue from 12th to 14th streets and 14th Street from Pacific to Main Street. The old roadways in those designated areas will be removed and new streets will be installed, complete with a sidewalk down one side of the street.

Bids for the construction project will be opened Jan. 25, and Glendening hopes the city can award the bid on Jan. 27.

“We’ve budgeted $1.25 million for the project,” Glendening said.

He expressed concern that rising oil costs could affect the bids by driving the price of asphalt higher.

Glendening said stimulus funds that have been used to complete specialized projects such as the downtown Streetscape improvements in 2010 are not likely to be available this year.

Once the street improvement project is completed on Brown Avenue, Glendening said he would like to improve Brown between Seventh and 12th streets, but he said that project could be a few years away.

The city also will be working with the Osawatomie Public Library to prepare a block grant application for the second phase of the library’s renovation. That application is due in October.

The city also will be assessing quality of life issues this year.

Councilman Larry Ratley is heading a steering committee that is looking at the feasibility of putting in basketball and tennis courts near the city pool, and at the possibility of establishing a skate park at a site that’s yet to be determined.

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Posted by admin on Jan 5 2011. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry