By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — As part of the South Hutchinson City Council meeting Monday, the city agreed to sign the appropriate paperwork to use a KDOT grant for part of the cost of the Scott Boulevard bridge.
"We're cautiously optimistic that we can use the $150,000 grant funding that was previously awarded on the bridge replacement project," said City Administrator Joseph Turner. "That will further reduce the cost, so we're pretty excited about that."
Reno County has previously stated that they believe the new bridge can be built for $350,000.
"I don't think that there's going to be anything that is going to trip us up on using the funds," Turner said. "I don't want to guarantee that those funds are going to be applied until we get further down the road."
The hope is that with this application, the cost can be in the $200,000 range to city taxpayers and Turner doesn't see that slowing the actual work, either.
"I'm not sure exactly what the timeline is for the sequencing on this, because of the weather coming up and there's the engineering aspect," Turner said. "It's going to be happening pretty quick here, because we're expecting the bridge to be completed in the spring."
The county and city have agreed to allow Reno County Public Works to provide whatever non-monetary assistance they can on the project.