The Overland Park Public Works Committee recommended that approximately $6.5 million worth of bid tabs be approved to seal the chip. Stock photo.
Several neighborhood streets throughout Overland Park are expected to be sealed off this year.
At Wednesday’s Overland Park public works meeting, the committee voted 5-1 to recommend hiring Vance Brothers Inc. to complete about $6.5 million of chip seals on about 168 lane miles of roadways residential.
Vance Brothers expects to begin chip seal work in June or July, with all chip seal projects on the city’s to-do list to be completed by the end of August, according to city filings.
However, Overland Park City Council must give final approval to the chip seal plans in the coming months before any work can begin.
Most chip seal projects are concentrated in a few neighborhoods
A comprehensive map outlining chip seal projects mostly north of West 119th Street can be found here, but here’s a list of concentrated areas that will receive chip seals this summer:
- Neighborhood streets in the northwest quadrant of W. 83rd Street and Lamar Avenue
- The Summerfield neighborhood near the I-435/I-35 interchange
- Mall streets on both sides of Metcalf Avenue between W. 103rd Street and I-435
- The Rolling Woods, Canterbury Estates and Brittany Square neighborhoods in the northeast quadrant of W. 119th Street and Antioch Road
- All neighborhood streets within the southeast quadrant of W. 119th Street and Pflumm Road, north of Indian Creek
A comprehensive map outlining chip seal projects mostly south of West 119th Street can be found here, but here’s a list of concentrated areas:
- Neighborhood streets between Blue Valley North and Menorah Medical Center bounded by W. 119th and W. 127th streets
- Neighborhood streets between 135th and 143rd Streets and between Antioch Road and US 69
- The neighborhood’s streets clustered in the southwest quadrant of W. 143rd Street and Metcalf Avenue
- The Polo Fields neighborhood in the southwest quadrant of 159th Street and Quivira Road
Some committee members expressed concern
- Council member Faris Farassati cast a single dissent vote, citing concerns about the safety of the chip seal and residents’ dissatisfaction with the surface treatment of the pavement.
- While agreeing with Farassati’s dislike of the chip seal, council member Scott Mosher noted that the city has already decided in October 2022 to move forward with these projects as part of the Overland Park road maintenance program.
- Interim director of public works Lorraine Basalo said if the roads planned to get the chip sealed not completed this year, they would no longer be in good condition due to exposure to increased deterioration and decay.
The city is trying to minimize its reliance on the chip seal
- In October, an Overland Park infrastructure advisory group recommended raising the citywide infrastructure sales tax from 1/8 cent to 3/8 cent.
- If the city were to raise the sales tax, it would generate another $16 million that could go towards infrastructure improvements.
- Collectively, the additional investment in the city’s infrastructure could help Overland Park reduce chip sealing by up to 41 percent over the next 20 years, Basalo said.
- “The reason you can’t get results faster is because… every year there’s an increase in the total miles of lane that we have,” said City Manager Lori Curtis Luther.
Read more: Overland Park Infrastructure Group Says Sales Tax Increase Could Reduce Chip Sealing Work
