ShawneeDispatch.com

Shawnee Public Works and Safety Committee members on Tuesday were scheduled to hear details concerning construction along Shawnee Mission Parkway and an odor study at the Johnson County Landfill.

Ron Freyermuth, director of public works, said safety improvements to Shawnee Mission Parkway from Interstate 435 to Kansas Highway 7 could begin late this summer or in early fall.

Among other things, an engineering study and design report submitted to committee members Tuesday was to explain: installation of streetlights and traffic signals, improvements to the Monticello Road, Barker Road and Midland Drive intersections, implementation of a bike trail, and upgrades to guardrail fencing and signage along the roadway.

If approved by committee members Tuesday, preliminary plans for the project were to be made available in as few as 45 days, according to city documents.

According to projections for the $2.75 million capital improvement project, the most expensive phase would be the construction of a bike trail to connect Midland and Woodland drives, estimated to cost $865,000.

A suggestion to push the bike trail construction to a 2006 date was mentioned in staff documents to reduce the cost of the project.

Freyermuth said Monday that construction crews on Shawnee Mission Parkway east of I-435 this week could switch their focus to the east side of Pflumm and the south side of Shawnee Mission Parkway from Pflumm to Quivira.

Freyermuth said the Shawnee Mission Parkway projects on both sides of I-435 likely would overlap at some point this year.

Committee members on Tuesday also were to receive an update on progress made with an odor identification and mitigation study at the Johnson County Landfill and wastewater treatment plant.

Shawnee planning director Paul Chaffee said Rob Dobson, project manager and environmental chemist with SES, Inc., of Lenexa, was scheduled to review the study with new Committee members.

SES was contacted to perform the odor control study by the city last year. Costs for the yearlong study are paid by Deffenbaugh Industries.