by BECKY GOFF
Little Apple Post
MANHATTAN - On Monday, February 19th, crews contracted by the city of Manhattan closed a portion of Kimball Avenue near the intersection with Denison Avenue.
This closure is part of phase 13 of the North Campus Corridor project.
Phase 13 includes a complete overhaul of the intersection of Kimball Avenue and Denison Avenue, widening both streets to include multiple turn lanes.
"This is phase 13 of a 14 phase project, it's been going on since 2014. We obviously started at Denison and Marlatt, and then we've moved to College, and then now we're coming down Kimball. This is the last phase where the intersection is. This is also part of an obligation that we made to, Homeland Security. When NBAF came, we promised them that we would expand that intersection for the increased traffic at that facility." says Brian Johnson, City of Manhattan City Engineer.
"So there's...there's two things going on. One, the Kimball project is funded through a city university sales tax. And that's how that project is funded. Those dollars cannot be used for fixing potholes pipes. Pothole budget is through either sales tax, through the general, city or through gasoline tax. And both of those are used to, to, fix potholes throughout the city as they come, come up and then we're fixing the potholes." Johnson says.
"We have over 400 employees in the city. They're all doing different things. We're all doing these things at the same time. It's a complex organization, and I just hope people understand. Just because we announced one closure doesn't mean we just stopped all work in that area. We've got 25 street workers out there that are still constantly doing pothole patching. So, don't...don't take this closure as meaning that we just ceased operations. That's not the case. We have a lot of things going." says Andrew Lawson, City of Manhattan Public Information Officer.
For more information on active and upcoming projects with City of Manhattan Public Works, click here.
To report potholes, use the ReportIt! app on your phone or click here.