By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Two weeks ago, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) announced more than $8.8 million would be handed out to counties as part of the Kansas High-Risk Rural Roads Program. Wednesday morning, Barton County Engineer Barry McManaman outlined to the county commission how the $171,000 coming to Barton County will be used.
"We would have an engineering study done on about 77 miles of our county blacktop roads to determine the proper location of no-passing zones and then put up the required pennants," McManaman said.
The study will include roads primarily in the southwest quadrant of the county, with some work in the southeast quadrant. The line will include Dartmouth Blacktop, or SE 60 Avenue and west, and roads south of US-56 and K-96 highways. Barton County does overlay and sealing work on one-fourth of the county each year. This project will align with the timeline of overlay work in the southwest quadrant before new striping is put down.
"I'm sure the previous county engineers and road departments have gone out and taken a look at them," said McManaman. "Some of it could be, quite honestly, by just good judgment, determining where those hills are and where a no-passing zone might need to be. This will be an official study that we can have documented."
KDOT will pay 100 percent of the costs. Ellsworth and Rice counties will receive a combined $588,000 thousand through the program for work in those counties.