Construction and Engineer Manager Justin Karam talked about the construction plans for phase ll of the Woodie Seat Freeway project with a community member. The feedback session for phase II was held in the SW Bricktown district at Ave. A school on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. CREDIT EMMI BOESE
By Emmie Boese
The City of Hutchinson hosted a feedback session on the Woodie Seat Freeway Phase II Improvements project at Avenue A School on Monday night. However, the session was heavily focused on how phase II of the project will affect the S.W. Bricktown neighborhood.
City staff displayed poster boards with questions for those in attendance who reside in the SW Bricktown district. Residents had the opportunity to post their feedback to each question on sticky notes regarding details about phase II of Woodie Seat. Questions for resident feedback included what works well for sidewalks, medians and curbs, what will work well for detour routes during construction and feedback about what would be best for lighting and tree planting on the Woodie Seat Freeway.
The city’s construction and Engineering Manager, Justin Karam, said phase II of the project will involve Ave. A, Ave. B, and Ave. C.
“With this project, we are going to be tying into the North end of Ave. C and that will be the start of the new trajectory to the roundabout at (Ave) A,” Karam said. “So basically, we need a tie in there to get the correct slope to tie into the roundabout at a safe angle. So with that process, Avenue B bridge will be removed, and it’ll basically be a sloped roadway across where there is currently Ave. B bridge. So with this project, we are going to be adding sidewalk connectivity over into Madison over to Adams and then also up to Sherman and Jefferson and then also improve connectability down and underneath Ave. C bridge to help the neighborhood stay connected.”
The SW Bricktown neighborhood’s boundaries are set between Ave. F and Fourth Ave from Washington St. west to Cow Creek. Karam said phase I of Woodie Seat involved improvements to a portion of Woodie Seat south of Ave. C and down to the river.
The biggest part of the project is taking out this trumpet loop and this will improve the safety of the intersection,” Karam said.
Other planned improvements in the constructed area of phase II include water line improvement and traffic control improvement.
“We are going to be doing a water line improvement connect all through (Ave.) A to improve that while we are there,” Karam said. “So doing some utility improvements while we have everything ripped up.”
Karam said traffic control improvements will be made at the intersection of Ave. A and Adams St.
“So we are going to be improving the camera. It’s going to go from a timed intersection that’s really slow and clunky to where you pull up, and it’s responsive, so it’s kind of a modern take on that,” Karam said. “That should really help improve the efficiency of that corridor.”
Karam said phase II of the project is worth $4 million as of now. On Tuesday, Nov. 26, the city will hold a bid-letting for the project, during which the contractors will submit their bids. The city will then consider finalizing the cost of the project.
So when we get those in we will select the very low bidder, we’ll bet the bids and we’ll start lining them up to get a contract with a selected contractor,” Karam said.
The city plans to be under contract by the end of the year, Dec. 31, 2024, in order to have ARPA funds allocated in time.
