25 years ago: Culvert project low on county priority list

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Aug. 31, 1988:

A culvert in southwest Douglas County that had been washed out during the flood of June 29-30 had caused the road to be closed since then, but hopes of having the culvert and road repaired any time soon were fading. Several Marion Township residents told Douglas County commissioners today that school bus routes were going to be affected this year, with one bus driver being forced to make a dangerous U-turn on a narrow township road. However, county officials said that this particular culvert was a low priority on a long list of culverts needing repair or replacement. The culvert, about four miles northeast of the southwest corner of the county, had caused the east-west road a mile north of U.S. Highway 56 to be closed since the June storm. The county was then taking care of nearly 600 culverts in the area, and it was estimated that about 200 of them needed repair or replacement, with this particular one being No. 53 on the list. It was estimated that replacement costs would be $40,000 to $45,000. County officials were sympathetic to the needs of that area, but they said they needed to funnel those funds toward failed structures that were used by hundreds of people.