Hiring a contractor to overhaul Douglas County Road 1029 will continue as scheduled, after county officials managed to beat a paperwork deadline by a few hours.

The Kansas Department of Transportation is sticking to its plans for opening contractors’ bids Aug. 20. After that, the department will be cleared to hire whichever qualified company was willing to take on the job for the lowest price.

Construction is likely to begin by Oct. 1.

Until Friday, that schedule had been in doubt. County officials had until Friday to acquire access to two tracts of property along the 2.75-mile stretch of road, which is set to get new pavement, lower hills, shallower dips, paved shoulders and widened roadside ditches.

The state’s original July 1 deadline had passed, and county commissioners didn’t have a deal to sign as of their meeting Wednesday night, their last scheduled gathering for about a month.

But commissioners empowered Commissioner Jere McElhaney to sign on their behalf, and the last two deals closed Thursday night — in time for county officials to fax them to Topeka to beat Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline, which had been extended from July 1.

“It’s a huge load off of all of our shoulders,” said Keith Browning, county engineer and director of Public Works. “We’ve been working really hard to get these last tracts done. Now we can move on.”

In all, the county paid $305,040 for access to 37 tracts of property along the road. The total was 15 percent higher than the county’s initial appraisal of $265,425, but well worth the investment — both in time and money, Browning said.

¢ 6News video: Planned road overhaul gets green light¢ Road project moves forward (6-10-03)

The reason: safety. The new shoulders will add 8 feet of pavement to each side, enough to handle a driver needing to pull over to fix a flat tire or answer for a speeding violation.

The new ditches also will be less severe, Browning said, to add comfort for drivers.

“The roadside will be a lot safer,” he said. “If somebody does have to leave the road inadvertently for any reason, this will be a lot more forgiving roadside. You will be able to recover and get back on the road.”

The state is paying 80 percent of the estimated $2.33 million construction cost, leaving the county to pay for the rest. Including land acquisition, utility relocations and design costs, the county anticipates spending $1.1 million for its share of the project.

The road will be closed to through traffic during construction, from the Farmers Turnpike north to Lecompton. A posted detour will steer traffic to use U.S. Highway 40 and County Road 1023.

Construction is expected to be completed in mid- to late summer 2004, Browning said.