Douglas County’s big road project for this year, a series of improvements to West County Road 458, won’t start until late May and might not be completed until the spring of 2018, county commissioners were told Wednesday.

The project, with an estimated $3.4 million price tag, is slated for a 5-mile section of CR 458 from East 800 Road north of Lone Star east and north to near its junction with North 1150 Road. Work will include replacement of undersized culverts, installation of paved shoulders, pavement resurfacing and flattening of roadway slopes. Three 40 mph curves on the section will be altered to accommodate 55 mph traffic. The section to be improved is the only part of CR 458 west of U.S. Highway 59 without the upgrades.

Douglas County Public Works Director Keith Browning had previously cautioned commissioners that a great deal of work needed to be done regarding utility relocation and right-of-way acquisition before construction on the project could start. On Wednesday, he told commissioners that construction on the project would probably start in late May and wrap up for the season in November at a logical point. Remaining work would be completed in the spring of 2018.

After the meeting, Browning said the goal would be to complete all but the final overlay of asphalt on the project before work ends for the year.

Browning said he would bring cost estimates for utility relocation, right-of-way acquisition and construction to share with commissioners at their Feb. 8 meeting. The costs for utility relocation were significantly higher than first estimated, necessitating the redesign of sections of the project, he said.

Browning said a review appraiser was now evaluating the county’s initial appraisal of the project’s right of way. The county won’t be able to make official offers for the easements until that process is complete, he said, but it has contacted most property owners and made informal offers for some right of way.

Work on the project will start with replacement of culverts and bridges, which will require the road’s closure and use of a detour route, Browning said. Emergency responders will be informed of a faster route, he said.

Once the culverts and bridges are replaced, improvements to the road and shoulder will be completed first on the south and east side of the roadway, Browning said. Once those are complete, he said, work on the north and west side will begin.

While that construction work is taking place, traffic on the road will be reduced to one lane, Browning said.

The County Commission approved Wednesday the banning of bicycles in the CR 458 construction zone. County Administrator Craig Weinaug, an avid bicyclist, said many leaders in the bicycle community understood the one-lane construction zone would be unsafe to ride in.

In other business, the County Commission approved the county’s participation in the Kansas Department of Heath and Environment’s waste tire collection effort aimed at reducing breeding grounds for mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus. Eileen Horn, county sustainability department director, said with the action, the county will receive $1,000 to advertise a waste tire amnesty program and another $10,000 to properly dispose of waste tires. It would also establish a one-day drop-off event with a limit of seven tires per county household. The county will also notify property owners with large piles of waste tires of the no-cost disposal.