Accessibility from one end of town to the other is pivotal in everyday life. In Dodge City, the 14^th Avenue Bridge is a parallel thoroughfare and one of the major arteries from the north side of the city to the south side. After 37 years since its last major rehabilitation, this vital roadway will undergo complete replacement of the northbound structure and repair for the southbound structure.

Originally constructed in 1957, the 14^th Avenue Bridge has fallen into a crucial state in the last few years. In 2022, Dodge City advertised a single project for the repair of both structures.  Michael Ingalls reviewed the information provided in the RFP and submitted a Letter of Interest with the risks of only doing a repair for the northbound structure clearly stated.  After PEC was awarded the project, Ingalls contacted Dodge City’s Director of Engineering Services Ray Slattery to discuss the northbound structure.

“I didn’t think repair was the right action for this bridge. The consultant inspections performed for the city had said that there was only minor cracking in the beams. I saw that the type of cracking in the beams presented a more severe condition,” he said. “I encouraged them to look into replacing the northbound structure.”

After an on-site investigation with the City, PEC immediately developed a set of emergency repair plans to repair six or seven of the shear crack locations with carbon fiber wrap repairs.  PEC also began developing plans for the repair of the southbound structure.  Dodge City was advised again to not continue costly repairs but to look at a replacement. Understandably, the cost to replace the large bridge was a major undertaking for the City.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) had recently passed and there was a lot of information available on how to apply for a Federal Grant for bridge replacements.  This turned into a 52-page application, but, ultimately, the bridge replacement was submitted to a KDOT Grant Program (Bureau of Local Projects’ Kansas Local Bridge Improvement Program) which narrowed the application down to seven pages and was submitted in 2022. The application was initially rejected, but then resubmitted in 2023. In August 2023, Ingalls got an important call from Tanner Rutschman, Dodge City engineer.

A grant had been awarded to Dodge City for the replacement bridge as a part of the Kansas Local Bridge Improvement Program. With the City contributing $2,000,000, the state committed $7,000,000 of federal funds to the project. This has been the largest grant issued for this program so far.

Ingalls and Kelly Farlow, VP Transportation Engineering, were invited to attend the announcement in Dodge City in late August 2023. At the presentation, Governor Laura Kelly outlined the two-year plan to improve Kansas’ local road systems. According to the article in The Kansas Reflector, Gov. Kelly said “nearly one-fourth of [the state’s] local road systems were deficient”.

With the new grant ready to go, Dodge City issued an RFP for the project. In November 2023, PEC was awarded the northbound project and will provide transportation engineering, geotechnical, municipal, utility coordination, and survey services. 

Additionally, in February 2024, PEC was awarded the construction inspection contract for the southbound bridge repair project. PEC won that project by scoring highest in all categories: professional qualifications, availability, approach, comparable experience, innovativeness, interest in the work, and proximity to project.