County road crews have had a busy summer and next year looks to be just as packed, so commissioners are reluctant to commit resources for an electric line project.
NextEra Energy is working on its Transmission Southwest project, connecting a substation near Wolf Creek to the Blackberry substation in Missouri. The line cuts through multiple southeast Kansas counties, including diagonally through Allen.
Some of the county’s roads will need to be improved to accommodate the heavy equipment needed for the transmission line project. The improvements include replacing several culverts and bridges, Mark Griffith, the county’s road and bridge director, told commissioners on Tuesday.
NextEra will pay for those improvements. Griffith said his crews could do the work and the county would be reimbursed. County Attorney Bob Johnson is working on an agreement with NextEra.
Commission Chairman David Lee, however, said he is hesitant to pull county crews away from other projects to do the work. Some projects planned for this past summer were pushed back because of delays caused by a July 14 wind storm and equipment issues.
“You’re taking on a lot of responsibility we don’t necessarily have time for,” Lee said.
Commissioner Jerry Daniels asked if it was possible to hire a subcontractor. Griffith and Johnson said that could be an option, but the county still needs someone to oversee the work.
“They’re our roads, so we’ll need someone out there inspecting the integrity of the roads,” Johnson said.
“I’d rather give up one guy than a crew,” Lee responded.
Griffith said up to seven locations would be affected, including one larger bridge. Some of the roads are asphalt and some are gravel.
Johnson and Griffith told commissioners they would continue to work through the legal details. It will still be some time before NextEra is ready to begin.
Griffith also discussed a request from Monarch Cement at Humboldt to repair a section of Delaware Road near 1600 Road. The area gets a lot of traffic from heavy cement trucks, damaging the road.
Monarch offered to supply the concrete if the county does the work. The county and Monarch have cooperated in similar ways on other projects, Daniels said.
He also suggested county crews work on one lane at a time to allow the concrete to cure, rather than closing the entire section.
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