SOUTH HUTCHINSON —About 8 ½ weeks after it closed to the public and more than four years after it was closed to county public works trucks, eastbound Scott Boulevard has reopened to all.

That after completion of a nearly $400,000 replacement bridge this week that the county provided engineering and construction inspection services for and the state helped fund.

“We’re very grateful to the county for assistance and Don Brittain for overseeing the project for us,” said South Hutchinson City Manager Joseph Turner.

“We’re very excited to have the project completed. I think residents will see a lot less traffic going along Avenue F from now on," he said.

State bridge inspectors in the fall of 2018 ordered weight limits lowered on the deteriorating 70-foot bridge built in 1963 over a drainage ditch.

Those lower weight limits prohibited trucks from the Reno County Public Works yard, less than 1,000 feet west of the bridge, from using it, sending that heavy truck traffic through South Hutchinson neighborhoods instead of allowing them to go about a half mile to U.S. 50.

South Hutchinson city officials obtained a grant to help replace the bridge, but it would only cover $150,000 of the more than estimated $700,000 cost to replace it with a like structure.

Turner, who was new to the city at the time, unsuccessfully challenged county officials over its ownership and thus who was responsible for replacing the bridge.

He then threatened to block the eastbound traffic on Scott Boulevard during a waterline replacement project, which would have shut down Public Works traffic altogether.

Director Don Brittain then received approval from South Hutchinson and the Reno County Commission to have the county’s bridge engineer explore alternate solutions for replacing it.

The solution was to replace the haunch slab bridge, a steel and concrete structure attached to thick concrete footings at each end, with multiple precast concrete box culverts instead.

The new bridge consists of five 10-by-6-by-30-foot concrete boxes. To enable using box culverts, the contractor had to shorten the bridge's length, which was done by shrinking the bridge opening. 

The stream it crosses ties a storm-water retention pond on the south side of Scott Boulevard to a drainage ditch on the north, rather than it being a traditional stream with a significant flow.

Mies Construction Inc. of Wichita was awarded the project for $392,296. It was the lowest of four bids received, though more than 47% above the engineer’s estimate.

The contractor started work on the bridge on July 18, and it reopened to traffic on Wednesday morning.

Besides the state grant, South Hutchinson officials initially looked at using a portion of their federally allocated American Rescue Plan Act dollars. But Turner said there should be enough budget carryover at the end of the year to pay for the work without tapping those funds.

The ARPA funds will still likely be targeted for infrastructure projects in the city, though nothing specific has been identified, Turner said.

“Whether it will be something with the water utility, the wastewater plan, or roads, I don’t know for a fact,” Turner said. “But based on previous conversations with the city council, they’ve placed a high emphasis on infrastructure.”

“There has been wear and tear on the streets as a result of the county trucks going in and out (on Avenue F)," he said. "But if you look at the Avenue F corridor, if you factor in the waterline repairs and bridge replacement, we’ve spent a little over a million on that side of town. While Avenue F needs work, long-term, I’d say other areas of town need investment as well, and we need to be cognizant of that.”