Adding shoulders to the Farmer’s Turnpike wouldn’t be the same as building a new elementary school, but Douglas County commissioners soon could be educating the public about the need for financing such an expensive construction project.

Commissioners are exploring possibilities for a multimillion-dollar bond issue that would help whittle a growing list of projects to widen roads, replace bridges and otherwise keep up with growth outside of Lawrence, Baldwin, Eudora and Lecompton.

Like a bond issue for schools, commissioners would ask the public to approve a specific list of projects — such as widening the Farmer’s Turnpike or replacing a bridge just east of U.S. Highway 59 — and the money to handle it.

Such an election could be two to four years away, but the discussions already are under way.

“We have that kind of time,” Commissioner Bob Johnson said, “but now’s the time to plan for it.”

Johnson is leading the charge to discuss the possibility, which he first suggested a year ago. County officials continue to face a future filled with potential financial potholes when it comes to infrastructure.

Within the next decade, the county will have 23 bridges rated either structurally deficient, functionally obsolete or at least 50 years old. Upgrading or replacing the bridges would cost an estimated $11.1 million.

Roads could cost even more. Keith Browning, the county’s engineer and director of public works, recently compiled a list of nine projects that could be taken on to improve safety, boost traffic capacity or upgrade roads to current standards. The estimated bill: $21.3 million.

Looking ahead

6News video: County considers bond issue for roads Tight budget curbs street repairs County considers bond issue for road projects Kasold crumbling (4-16-04) 6News video: City resolves to fix ‘worst street in town’ (4-16-04) City patching weather-beaten streets (3-1-04) Toplikar: Run-flats can help drivers weather damage from potholes (3-1-04) Mean streets: Craters keep city, auto shops busy (2-19-04) County to pave Kasold extension (1-28-04)

And there’re potentially dozens more projects where those came from.

“The list of projects is almost only limited by the number of roads we have,” said Browning, who oversees maintenance of 168 miles of paved roads and an additional 34 miles of gravel roads. “If we’re looking at, say, 150 miles, we’re looking probably at $130 (million) or $140 million. And that’s just for safety-type improvements, not capital improvements.”

Commissioners caution that they’re perhaps a year or two away from mulling specific cost estimates for any proposed bond issue. They likely won’t even decide whether to formally explore the possibilities for at least a few months, until they can start talking about plans for the county’s 2005 budget.

But the concept certainly is on the horizon, even if its specific size or scope remains a bit hazy.

“I can’t imagine where we’re going to find all the money we need to do all the things we need to do,” said Charles Jones, commission chairman. “As our population in rural Douglas County continues to increase, a bond issue is probably the way it’s going to have to be financed.”

Such a move would allow the county to sell bonds that could generate “tens of millions” of dollars, which then would be used to finance major road upgrades and bridge replacements, Jones said.

Such projects might cost a lot up front — rebuilding a 2.5-mile stretch of the Farmer’s Turnpike, for example, would cost about $2.3 million — but such work would be expected to last anywhere from 20 to 40 years. New bridges can be expected to last up to 80 years.

Long-term view

Commissioners, of course, could increase property taxes each year to cover project costs, but such a financing vehicle often proves unreliable. That’s why county staffers already are studying how much it would cost, on average, each year to keep up with the county’s growing list of transportation needs.

“The easiest way to balance a budget, at the end of a budget-balancing exercise, is to cut one big item rather than 50 smaller items,” said Craig Weinaug, county administrator. “It’s very easy to defer a major capital-improvement project, like replacement of a bridge.”

Jones likes the idea of thinking long-term, and a bond issue appears to make the most sense.

“It’s like buying a car,” Jones said. “You don’t save up $30,000, and just buy it, and plop down the cash. You usually put down some and pay it off over time. It’s just a way to levelize your payments, and I think that’s what we’re going to have to do with funding bridges and roads.”

Commissioner Jere McElhaney still isn’t sold on the need for tax increases, but he remains committed to providing safe paths for transportation. He considers public safety and infrastructure to be the two most important services of county government.

Johnson knows the road to a potential bond issue wouldn’t be easy. He said the commission would need to explore options with staffers, then meet with taxpayers and come up with an overall plan that would meet the county’s needs as efficiently as possible.

If the community can do that, he said, in two to four years the county could have enough money to ease traffic problems well into the future.

“I have to give a great deal of credit to the public,” Johnson said. “Once we provide them with all the information they need, so that they can understand what it is we’re talking about, why it is we’re proposing it — and, particularly, why we would be proposing to do it this way — I’m fairly confident that it could be done.”