Additional study needed for East Barton County Road bridge
BY DALE HOGGdhogg@gbtribune.com
The Barton Count Commission Monday morning approved a supplemental agreement with Terracon for a geology study for the embattled bridge on East Barton County Road. This is in addition to the $22,000 agreement for redesigning the structure OKed last week.The bridge, located approximately one mile east of Great Bend, was to be replaced by a new-style geosynthetic reinforced soil bridge, but all bids were rejected due to the cost. The county opted to rebid the project and go with a standard-style bridge.“We’re just so far down stream with this,” Commission Chairman Jennifer Schartz said, adding they might as well follow through.“We’re going to save quite a bit of money on this,” County Engineer Barry McManaman said. “It’s the prudent thing to do.”The new design will use steel pile foundations. As such, further geology information is required due to the increased depth of the foundations and the addition of two piers in the channel, McManaman said. The engineering firm designing the bridge, Kirkham Michael of Ellsworth, requested a supplemental agreement with Terracon. The cost of the proposed work is $5,900. It was at last week’s commission meeting, that a $22,000 agreement with Kirkham Michael was approved for the new design of the bridge. This takes it back to a traditional bridge, not the GRS bridge.The Kansas Department of Transportation opened bids on Jan. 18 for the project. However the low bid from L&M Construction of Great Bend for $929,000 was substantially over the department’s estimate of around $300,000.The commission could have accepted the bid. Or, it could reject it and opt instead to go back to the drawing board, have the project redesigned and rebid.Commissioners opted for the rebid. Even after paying the Kirkham Michael for the new design, it would still be cheaper for the county, officials said.Several years ago, the span was up for replacement. But, after $20,000 was spent for a design, it was nixed.Then, in 2014, the bridge came up again. This time, plans were made to replace it using a GRS integrated bridge system, a system unproven in Kansas.A GRS bridge system was supposed to take less time and money to install as the bridge rests on layers of compressed concrete blocks separated by a synthetic fabric. But, it didn’t work for the county.
It was a desperate situation for the Barton County Health Department, Health Director Shelly Schneider told the County Commission Monday morning. One of the two pharmaceutical-grade refrigerators the department uses to keep vaccines and other medications at critically cool temperatures went out earlier this month.
“I came to the commission on Feb. 13 in a fairly panicked mode,” she said. The fridge had to be replaced immediately or the thousands of dollars in vaccines would go bad.
She found a replacement and ordered it from Global Industrial. Including shipping, the Nor-Lake stainless steel two-glass-door refrigerator cost $5,249.93.
The commission ratified that purchase Monday.
“This was our main refrigerator,” she said. It was also used as back-up storage by other health care providers in the county.
These units have a life expectance of eight years ad this one was nine. “We had to replace it whether we wanted to or not,” Schneider said.
The new fridge is twice as large as the old one, she said. This allows them to keep private and state-funded vaccines separates as mandated by law, and still leave room for flu and other outbreak vaccines if needed.
During this same time, Schneider said their freezer also went out, but that was a simple fix. However, this may need to be replaced in the near future.
The only problem with the refrigerator purchase was that the new unit was delivered earlier than expected, she said. She was told it would come April 3, but it arrived last Thursday.
Also, she was not told she needed to have a forklift available to unload it from the truck. With only a 30-minute window, she contacted the Road and Bridge Department which lent its forklift.
“Road and Bridge truly save the day,” she said. The Sheriff’s Office also pitched in and helped.
