Twenty-seven
counties will receive a combined total of $5 million under the Kansas
Department of Transportation’s Local Bridge Improvement Program. Requests for
transportation funding outpaced available funds by nearly three times. The
selection of the local bridge projects was announced today by KDOT Secretary
Julie Lorenz.
“Improving
the overall transportation system in our state is important and that includes
those structures under local authority,” said Transportation Secretary Julie
Lorenz. “It takes partnerships between the state, cities and counties to move
people and goods as efficiently as possible across Kansas.”
The bridge program was reinstated by the agency this summer
to assist cities and counties by providing up to $150,000 toward the replacement
or rehabilitation of a bridge on the local roadway system. In the FY 2020
budget, $166 million less will be transferred out of the State Highway Fund.
This funding will allow KDOT to perform about $400 million in preservation
projects, deliver five more delayed T-WORKS projects and enabled KDOT to
reactivate the Local Bridge Improvement Program.
A
total of 86 applications from 70 local public agencies were received with
requests for $14.2 million in funds. Some agencies submitted more than one
application for the program. The total value of the individual bridge request
repairs ranged from $150,000 to $800,000.
“We
clearly have pent up demand for transportation investments,” Secretary Lorenz
said. “If state government can continue to keep its expenses and revenues
aligned, we intend to fund this program on an on-going basis.”
This
program targets bridges that are 20 – 50 feet in length and a daily vehicle
count of less than 100. Deficient structures, which are longer and
deficient structures on higher volume roads, also qualify for funding under the
program, but these will be limited to the same state funding amounts.
There
are approximately 19,000 bridges on Kansas’ local road systems. About 20
percent – or 3,800 -- of those bridges are in poor condition – or unable to
meet today’s weight and vehicle requirements.
The list
of counties receiving funding is below. Those with an asterisk indicate
counties that also chose to close a second deficient bridge in order to receive
an additional $50,000.
Atchison
County
Butler
County
Cherokee
County
Comanche
County *
Decatur
County *
Doniphan
County *
Geary
County
Gove
County
Greenwood
County *
Marshall
County *
Meade
County *
Montgomery
County
Osage
County *
Phillips
County *
Pottawatomie
County *
Rawlins
County *
Reno
County *
Republic
County *
Rice
County *
Riley
County
Russell
County *
Sedgwick
County
Smith
County *
Stafford
County *
Trego
County *
Wabaunsee
County *
Woodson
County
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