A Unified Government committee tonight gave preliminary approval for a $10 million bond issue for the Kaw River bank stabilization project at Turkey Creek in Kansas City, Kansas.
The cost of a plan to stabilize the Kaw River bank at Turkey Creek has doubled since the project was originally approved for $5 million last summer, commissioners heard at the Public Works and Safety Committee meeting. Kathleen VonAchen, UG chief finance officer, recommended the resolution for the $10 million bond issue.
Troy Shaw, UG engineer, told the commission that heavy rains in the summer of 2017 resulted in a failure at the Kaw River bank at Turkey Creek. He said the UG applied for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was turned down, and is now appealing that decision. There is also a possibility that the UG could receive some funding from Kansas City, Missouri, in the future in connection with this project, UG officials said.
The downstream wingwall did not fail until the river receded, Shaw said. Once the river went down, there was nothing to hold the wall.
Since then, the UG has been monitoring it, he said. A hole at the site is now filled with rock temporarily, he said. The UG has a construction manager at risk working on the project, he said. The contractor is DSI.
According to Shaw, a contractor did borings on the site and determined the break was much deeper. He said there are plans also to redo the upstream wingwall because it probably will fail soon or in five years. The wingwalls were built about a hundred years ago, he said. Shaw said it made sense to do both walls in the same project.
According to the proposed resolution, the project would include construction, inspection, repair and restoration of the Kaw River bank adjacent to the Turkey Creek outfall into the Kaw River, including replacing the wingwall and floodwall, providing stronger stabilization for the riverbank and restoring the levee wall and headwall.
The Public Works and Safety Committee voted unanimously to approve the resolution to spend up to $10 million on the project.
The project next is scheduled to go to the Economic Development and Finance Committee next Monday before going to the Unified Government Commission for approval, possibly on March 7.
A video of the meeting is online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU3IxXSztus.