by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The first of six road projects in Wellington appears to be over! G Street from 11th to 14th Street in the Subway Sandwich Shop area opened to four-lane traffic for U.S. 160 and 81 travelers late Monday afternoon. The crossing intersections also were reopened from 11th to 14th Street.

Those businesses along G Street cheered loudly. So did travelers who use the busy 12th Street intersection linking a large portion of west Wellington to the rest of the community.

All told this patch of 1,200 feet of new concrete road ended up costing $365,000 with the state of Kansas kicking in $200,000 and the city paying for the rest. The KLINK project started in May.

Wellington City Manager Gus Collins said the overall cost of this stretch of road was higher than expected. First of all the bids were higher than projected for a complete base removal and replacement. The original base foundation was also said to be of inferior quality.

Collins had hoped there would be enough funds to link the G Street project to the the newly build Vandenburgh Ave. to the north which is scheduled to open to the public during the first week of November. However, the Pizza Hut intersection linking G Street to 15th, will have to be rebuilt on a different day.

“The (Wellington) governing body will need to decide on the next KLINK project whether to rebuild that intersection to the north or rebuild the highways to the south,” Collins said.