Bids turned in last week for a new traffic signal at Highway 24 and Columbian Road, came in 18 percent over the engineer’s estimate.
Pottawatomie County Counselor John Watt informed commissioners Monday that bids over 10 percent on road projects can’t be approved, though says an exception could be made in this case, based upon a majority of the project being signal work. Any extra costs incurred would fall on the shoulders of the county, a result of a 2020 agreement between the county and the City of Wamego. Public Works Project Coordinator Steve Roggenkamp explains.
Roggenkamp says Public Works has requested additional funding from the Kansas Department of Transportation because the dollar figure originally requested was assumed to be enough before inflation set in. Commission Chair Pat Weixelman directed Public Works to also negotiate with Wamego city officials on a dollar amount they’d be comfortable with to help share in the added expense.
The numbers provided by Weixelman weren’t specific numbers indicative of what the county needs to cover. Three-fourths of the intersection is in the county’s jurisdiction. The southwest corner is within the Wamego city limits.
