By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Barton County officials attend the Kansas Association of Counties Conference each year to stay up to date on issues affecting county governments and what the state is doing to help or hurt counties. The 49th Annual KAC Annual Conference and Exposition was held Dec. 3-5 in Topeka. Emergency Management Director Sean Kelly accepted an award, on behalf of the county, from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Kansas for bridge improvements.
"They only handed out two awards this year and we were one of the recipients for the design and construction work we did," Kelly said. "It's a good testament to what the commission does to invest in our county. When we do projects like that, it's a big infrastructure boost. It helps the ag communities big time and gets rid of some of our older bridges out there."
Kirkham Michael & Associates did the engineering work and L&M Contractors did the construction on off-system bridge No. 202 just east of the former Kiowa Kitchen on East Barton County Road. The bridge was widened from 19 feet to 28 feet, which allows for large farm equipment to pass through.
The old bridge was approximately 100 years old. The county paid $605,603 to have the work completed and was reimbursed $514,762 through the Kansas Department of Transportation's Local Bridge Improvement Program. The county has replaced three bridges in the area in less than a decade.