North 15th Street will resume being closed to through traffic from Radio Lane and Skyline Road starting Nov. 13, according to Public Works Director Eric Broce.
During this road closure, through traffic on 15th Street will be detoured east at both Radio Lane and Skyline Road. Access will be accommodated to local traffic only during the course of concrete paving.
Andale tentatively plans to begin concrete paving in the North Third section Nov. 14 and that portion will be completely closed for at least three days after paving. Local access will be from the south.
If the weather cooperates, City officials hope to complete the project in the next few weeks.
The project has been broken into three main segments — north, middle and south — to allow local traffic access at all times, depending on which section of concrete paving is occurring at any given time.
During concrete paving of the Middle Third section, Timberlane residents will have access from the south and residents living on Proffer Lane will have access from the north.
When concrete paving begins on the South Third portion of the project, both Timberlane and Proffer Park residents will have access to their neighborhoods only from the north.
Detours for local access will be very fluid during the next 30 days. The City of Arkansas City is maintaining a project page for 15th Street construction project updates and detours on the City website.
West Washington Avenue will be closed from Third to Fifth streets starting Nov. 13, for a minimum of three weeks, to allow Walters-Morgan Construction to lay new pipeline for the new Water Treatment Facility.
Wichita-based Andale Construction, Inc. has mobilized to finish the total reconstruction of North 15th Street, in accordance with a design-build contract agreement approved April 4 by the City Commission.
The total contract with Andale is for an amount not to exceed $637,371.87.
Andale has used its patented super-slurry process to grind up the existing road base and inject a slurry mix into the soil to stabilize it. This is a cheaper and faster process than traditional methods.
Now that the base is reconstructed, Andale will pour roller compacted concrete to form the new street surface. Again, this results in shorter closure times than traditional concrete pouring methods.
This project is expected to expend the remaining funds in the City’s Street Improvement Fund, funded through a five-year, half-cent street sales tax that began in April 2009 and ended in March 2014.
The 2009-2014 sales tax generated approximately $3.9 million. The City has been able to leverage those dollars through grant opportunities for an additional $3.1 million in state and federal funds.
In addition, the City was able to put back about $1 million in gas tax and federal dollars, for a total of approximately $8 million in overall street improvements — more than doubling the original tax dollars.
15th Street from Radio Lane to the north City limits — total reconstruction by Andale.
The 15th Street bridge is planned to be replaced as part of a separate project in 2018, as funds are available. The remainder of the road surface within close proximity of the bridge will be reconstructed then.