Fifty-eight bridges in Barton County will have new weight limit signs and/or emergency vehicle signs, for a total of 188 signs, County Works Director Chris Schartz said.
Most of these bridges did not have this signage in the past but it is a new requirement from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT). Seven bridges that already had signs must have new ones reflecting changes in the limits. Schartz explained the changes at Tuesday’s Barton County Commission meeting.
Commission Chair Tricia Schlessiger said she’d already fielded questions from the northern part of the county, where the first signs have gone up. "People were concerned it would be too close to the bridge,” she said.
Signs along roadways can be a concern to farmers who may need to move combines with wide headers attached. Signs on bridges can be folded down, Schartz explained. Those on the road are placed 15 feet from the white line on the shoulder “wherever we can." That width accommodates farm equipment and also allows county mowers to operate.
KDOT has distributed the results of the final year of a federally mandated Bridge Load Rating Project. Upon its completion, the 10-year project will have analyzed all bridge-length structures in the state to determine if they can carry legal loads. All 372 Barton County bridges have load ratings, including 224 bridges inspected this period. A resolution approved by the commission on Tuesday sets the final load ratings and rescinds the previous weight-limit resolution that was approved in 2023.
Schartz provided the Great Bend Tribune with a breakdown on the 58 bridges affected:
• There are two types of signs. One shows three trucks – single axle, tandem and triple – with their weight limits. The other signs show weight limits for emergency vehicles.
• 21 bridges will have both signs together. There are already three-truck signs on seven of the bridges, but they will be replaced to reflect the new numbers. Fourteen of those bridges will need new signage at the bridges and intersections. They will also take both signs.
• 37 bridges will need emergency vehicle sign postings at the bridge. These will all be new signs.
Schartz said emergency vehicles have a lower weight limit because their weight distribution is different from typical trucks. Some fire trucks are too heavy for some of the bridges, but they aren’t the type of trucks that would typically respond to a rural fire. He gave a ladder truck as an example.
New rollers for the road
Schartz also explained the need to purchase two new HP100-10 road rollers for the Road and Bridge Department. The purchase from Murphy Tractor in Great Bend was approved for $279,000. The old equipment will be sold on Purple Wave auction.
He described rollers as essential engineering vehicles used by highway departments to compact soil, gravel and asphalt to create strong, durable road foundations and surfaces.
“We solicited bids,” Schartz said. “We did check into the used route. There wasn’t a lot of savings between going with new from used; the biggest (advantage) is the warranty.” The new equipment comes with 60 months or 3,000 hours warranty. They will keep the two best rollers they have.
They use two when doing overlays and three during chip sealing. If the rollers are down for repairs, “the whole crew is down – we can’t do anything without them.”
The new equipment should last the county for many years, he said. The old ones were purchased from a KDOT surplus auction. They have required repairs costing $40,000 in the last five years and the hydraulic drives are starting to go out ...
Commissioner Shawn Hutchinson stopped Schartz and joked, “Chris, don’t say too much. We’ve got to sell these things on Purple Wave!”
Other purchases
On a serious note, he added that it is nice to be able to “shop local.” It isn’t always possible. Earlier in the meeting, the commissioners approved the purchase of Microsoft Office 365 Business licenses for up to 168 computers from Microsoft partner True.org Cloud for $29,072. That was something no local vendor could offer. Commissioner Donna Zimmerman noted that the cost of this software has increased but IT Director Derek Hollinshead had reduced the number of computers to save money.
“Derek’s been trying to get really creative and really try to review the amount of users we have who actually need this,” County Administrator Matt Patzner said. Office 365 Business enables a computer user to have email hosting, protection and archiving as well as a desktop version of Office.
The commissioners were able to approve another local purchase when County Appraiser Wendy Prosser asked them to ratify her department’s recent purchase of a Ford Ranger from Marmie Ford for $35,165 plus the trade-in, a 2014 Jeep Compass she described as “failing.”
The Appraiser’s Office has a fleet of three vehicles and they have to be able to maneuver through differing terrains, with at least 9 inches of ground clearance. Her staff also requested cloth seats.
All of the vehicles in the office are several years old, Prosser added. As a “farm girl,” she said, “we’ve tried to drive them into the dirt.”
