By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
It’s nice to have a business to rely on. For many years, Barton County has used Straight-Line Striping, based in Grand Island, Neb., for its road striping. During Tuesday’s Barton County Commission meeting, County Works Director Chris Schartz asked for approval on bids for the 2026 project.
“The work includes center-line and edge-line striping on approximately 97 miles of county roadway that we plan on overlaying and sealing this year,” Schartz said. “We received two bids from Straight-Line Striping and Heartland Traffic Services. They estimated for the quantity of both white and yellow paint, as well as glass beads that provide reflectivity to the striping.”
Bids were accepted through Feb. 23. Straight-Line submitted a bid for $112,311, and Heartland’s bid came in at $115,350. Given the lower cost and previous experience, Schartz recommended the county choose Straight-Line.
“Straight-Line Striping is who we have used for years,” he said. “They work great for us. We have no issues. They do a lot of other counties in the other: Rice, Stafford, among some of the other ones. They work well with us, and we have a lot of communication back and forth.”
Barton County Road and Bridge works in a different quadrant of the county each year. Work will begin in the southeast quadrant this year, with work extending north to cover Dartmouth Blacktop east and south to the county line. Work will extend north to the city of Odin, then east to the county line. Additional work will be completed up to the city of Claflin and a little north. Straight-Line needed just three days to complete striping last year.