City Commission notes completion of Banner Road project

With work on the Banner Road reconstruction project wrapped up in mid-October, that project is finished, “all except for the paperwork,” as Holton City Manager Teresa Riley told the Holton City Commission during its regular meeting on Monday night, despite concerns raised by one commissioner that evidence of the “speed bumps” that necessitated the project were still there.

Commissioner Clara Lovvorn expressed concerns that the reconstructed Banner Road between Arizona Avenue (U.S. Highway 75) and Iowa Avenue (old U.S. 75) was “not as smooth as I thought it would be,” noting that the evidence of prior cuts in the road still caused occasional “bumps” for drivers and may have a negative effect on the city’s snow plows come winter.

Those “bumps,” as Holton Street Superintendent Greg Tanking noted, are the result of “mirroring” where the cuts in the old Banner Road, created by the city’s “asphalt zipper,” had been and should take care of themselves over time. If they don’t, Tanking said, the city has a one-year warranty with the road project’s contractor, Bettis Asphalt of Topeka, which will come back and make needed repairs to the road if necessary.

“It may need another overlay at some point if things haven’t settled down or if something would sink,” Tanking said.

Commissioners approved the final paperwork on the Banner Road project, including signatures on a request for reimbursement from the Kansas Department of Transportation, which provided a 60-percent grant match for the project, as well as a change order on the project and a certificate of completion.

The total cost of the Banner Road project was $356,678.61, less than the $376,200 estimate on the construction contract with Bettis Asphalt, according to the city’s request for reimbursement through KDOT’s Cost Share Program. The KDOT program provided the 60-percent match for the project, or $214,007.17, with the city’s share of the project coming to $142,671.44.

The project was completed in mid-October, according to paperwork approved by commissioners. Tanking said that according to KDOT’s “rules and regulations” with the Cost Share Program, the road work had to be completed by the end of the calendar year “and the weather was starting to cool down, so we had to press on.”

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