Iola city officials took the deteriorating road plate dilemma at the intersection of Madison and Elm into their own hands this week.
“The plates have been coming loose,” because of the heavy traffic, said Corey Schinstock, assistant city administrator, noting “we recently got a call that someone ran over a bolt.”
Schinstock said the city had planned to address the issue when the 54 Highway rebuild project got underway, but “unfortunately, the project has been shelved because of the cost.”
Schinstock said he submitted a permit to repair the road early Monday morning to the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), and heard back a few hours later.
“Kudos to them,” he said. “KDOT pushed that permit faster than any other time I’ve had to go through them.”
The city is placing two 6-inch C900 thick walled water line pipes, extended to the center line of the road. Then, they are encasing the pipes in four to five inches of concrete. The inside lanes have been completed and Thursday they will shift to the outside lanes.
“It should be completed by the weekend,” said Schinstock. “By the end of day Friday, we should be able to pull the cones.”
