A year ago, two intersections south of Ellinwood were damaged by flood water. Now, the county will receive most of the cost to repair those junctions reimbursed by the State of Kansas. The County Commission Monday morning approved applying for Kansas Department of Transportation emergency funding for the work.

“Last year, in May of 2019, Barton County experienced some serious damages due to flooding,” County Engineer Barry McManaman said. This included there two intersections.

They are on SE 20 Road at SE 100 Avenue and SE 105 Avenue respectively. The Road and Bridge Department replaced a culvert pipe, filled in eroded shoulders and put new rock surfacing on the side road approaches in June of 2019.  

“They kept a tabulation of the county’s costs, and the total cost was $13,440.09,” he said. KDHE administers a program where it uses Federal Highway Administration funds to help in the for the repair of major collector routes built with federal aid that are damaged by natural disasters.

“So, we submitted the costs to KDOT for consideration to see if we could get some reimbursement,” McManaman said. KDOT and FHWA representatives inspected the locations, along with county officials, and the state agency sent the county an agreement for commission approval.

The state will reimburse the county for 80% of the cost. And that would come up to a total of $10,752.07.