Ark Valley News - Road reconstruction project gets started

Crews stripe Meridian March 16 to prepare for construction. The west half of the street will be worked on while traffic is moved to the east half. That will switch in May. The intersection of Main and Meridian will be closed during parts of June and July.

Road reconstruction project gets started
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: March 26, 2015

The massive infrastructure project to improve two major streets and stormwater drainage in the heart of Valley Center has begun.

The $6.5 million reconstruction of Ford, Ramsey and Meridian started March 16 and is expected to end in October.

It will include detours, street closures and delays.

"This is a project needed for many, many years," said Al Hobson, member of the Valley Center City Council. "Cowboy up, let's get it done and next winter, we'll really enjoy it."

A major part of the work will take place under the surface, where a stormwater drainage system will be installed, taking water away from Meridian and the neighborhoods that surround the downtown area and pushing it into a large detention pond being constructed on city-owned land south of Ford (77th North).

Stormwater drainage has long plagued the city. The project will do away with the so-called Baxter Springs low-lying drainage area on South Meridian, the site of frequent flooding and car stalls.

City council member Lou Cicirello suggested the city donate the familiar water-level measuring sticks to the Valley Center Historical Society when the project is finished.

The project also will include the installation of sidewalks along Meridian and Ford, connecting the Prairie Lakes subdivision with Meridian. Ford will be lowered and its steep ditches will be filled in.

Meridian will go from four lanes to two with a center turn lane.

The diagonal Ramsey Road will be reconfigured to form a 90-degree intersection at Meridian.

The project started with the closure of the west half of Meridian from the Main Street intersection to about Ramsey, while crews begin working on the east half of the street this week. That work will continue through May, when the project essentially flips to the other half of the street and the west side is closed. That second phase will run through July.

Contractors are expected to maintain access to affected businesses throughout the construction project.

Also in the first phase, work began on the detention pond south of Ford.

In the third phase, the work will focus on the Main and Meridian intersection from May through June. The intersection will be closed during much of this phase, said city engineer Josh Golka.

"The third phase is the most painful," he said.

Golka explained that officials decided to close the intersection because of traffic safety concerns and for the installation of a new traffic signal system.

A portion of Meridian between Ramsey and the railroad tracks also will be closed at times during the project.

"It's not convenient," Golka said. "Road construction never is."

The reconstruction of Ramsey will take place from March to June. Local access will be maintained either from Meridian or Ford throughout the project, Golka said.

As work on Ramsey and Meridian wrap up in July, the focus will shift to Ford, where the project will force the closure of parts of the street.

Drivers and business owners are preparing for the disruption.

"I worry about it," said Anne Carter-Hainlen, owner of Anne's Attic in the Hometown Plaza, 205 S. Meridian. "It's not going to be any fun. It'll be nice when it's all done. As long as we all can survive through it, it will be great."

Don Bennett, owner of Don Jr.'s Barber Shop on the east side of Meridian, said he looks forward to the improvements.

"We've had water problems as long as I've been in Valley," he said. "We'll just have to put up with the construction. All of my customers know they can come in from the back alley."

Bennett said he was promised that at least one driveway to his business would remain open throughout construction.

"I'm not concerned," he said. "This is just something we've got to put up with. If it didn't happen this year, it was going to have to happen next year."

In a related matter, the city council on March 17 accepted a letter of intent from J Van Sickle & Company to develop an apartment complex on property the city owns south of Ford Street near the railroad tracks.

Van Sickle plans to purchase about six acres from the city to build a 48-unit complex in the first phase of development. The complex will be near the 40-acre detention pond the city is constructing as part of the Meridian and Ford reconstruction project.

The city and Van Sickle will begin negotiating a developer's agreement to get the project moving forward.