Public Works Dept.

Memo

To:                 Commissioner David Schauner

Mike Wildgen

cc:                David Corliss, Debbie Van Saun, Terese Gorman, Tammy Bennett

Commissioners Dennis Highberger, Sue Hack and David Dunfield 

From:            Chuck Soules

Date:  June 2, 2004

Re:                            Engineering Services                                                                                      

This correspondence is to address Commissioner Schauner’s questions, to follow up on the Engineering Services memo, and to further identify potential projects that a limited engineering staff could complete.  It is difficult to identify benefit district projects that the City could undertake because many of those projects are integral with other streets being proposed within a development.  For example, the alignment of 16^th Street was dependent on how the plat was developed.  In contrast, a road such as Comet Lane (also a benefit district) could have been completed by an in-house staff.

Timing and scheduling may also be an issue.  Many times several projects are being designed with similar schedules by different firms.  This is not an issue that could not be managed with adequate planning and scheduling, but needs to be included in the consideration. 

Currently staff does develop plans/specifications for several projects such as the KLINK Project, Phase I, II, III, and IV for the street maintenance program (mill, overlay, concrete repair/replacement and curb and gutter rehabilitation), very limited single traffic calming devices (circles), alley reconstruction, sidewalk replacement, and small drainage projects as time and workload permit.

Projects on the KDOT 5-Year Plan (O’Connell Road, Kasold Bridge, 31^st Street, North 2^nd and Locust Street) would be contracted.  Additionally, projects such as Kasold Drive (15^th to 23^rd), Peterson Road (Kasold to west of Monterey Way), Queens Road (6^th to Peterson) and George Williams Way would also be contracted.  Projects such as these require two to three engineers and a full support staff.  Additionally, these projects take months to develop.  For the O’Connell Road project there were three engineers, a technician, and secretarial staff assigned to the project taking 3,024 hours to develop.  The Kasold Road project is very similar, and four of the firms submitting a proposal had at least two engineers assigned to the project and a total of 2,500-3,000 hours to complete the design.  These projects would consume most (if not all) of staff’s time and would not be efficient.

On the attached list, the highlighted projects could have been completed by an in-house staff.  Explanations with respect to specialized training, extensive coordination with other improvements or development, and size are provided for other street projects.

Depending on staffing and Commission direction, certain other projects could be completed such as water, sewer and stormwater.

Attached is our estimated 5-year annual costs for staffing.  Again, it is hard to speculate on various future projects.  Some of the more recent projects that could be completed are:

Project Design Estimate

Harvard Road Traffic Calming                                                            $  60,000

          7^th and Kentucky, Geometrics, and Signal                                 27,000

3^rd Street, Alabama to Illinois                                                      15,000

          Naismith, 19^th to 23^rd                                                                  60,000

          Wakarusa, widen to four lanes, 23^rd to K-10                              50,000

Other projects such as:

Estimated Engineering Cost

          Traffic Calming/Control

                      Harvard & Wakarusa                                                  $  50,000  -  $75,000

                      Wakarusa & Legends                                                     50,000  -  $75,000

Neighborhood requests:

          Pedestrian/bike facilities                                                         $  10,000 - $20,000

          Brick street reconstruction                                                     $  60,000

If additional information is needed, please let me know.

Respectfully submitted,

  Charles F. Soules, P.E.

Director of Public Works

CFS/je

Attachments