The county has approved guaranteed maximum prices for initial construction and design work totaling roughly $44 million as part of a massive overhaul of the aging Myron K. Nelson Wastewater Treatment Facility in Mission.

• The work for which allocations were approved this week by the Board of County Commissioners constitute a fraction of the projects overall projected cost of more than $570 million, work for which is expected to be ongoing through at least 2030.

Driving the news: The Johnson County Board of County Commissioners on Thursday approved a contract amendment setting a combined maximum price of $26.3 million in construction and design costs for the project.

• Out of that $26.3 million, roughly $3.6 million will go toward construction phase services and roughly $22.7 million will go toward design services with Black & Veatch Corporation.

The upshot: This raises the total construction phase cost to roughly $6.1 million and the total design cost to roughly $38 million overall, or roughly $44 million total.

• The services these allocations will go toward partially include replacement of a Turkey Creek Pump Station pipeline, as well as installation of permanent traffic signals at the overpass at I-35 and Lamar Avenue, in order to reduce the impacts of construction traffic.
• The county’s capital improvement fund will cover project costs.

Further details: These improvements come as the city of Mission prepares to reconstruct Foxridge Drive from Lamar Avenue to 51st Street next spring — which the 24-inch pipeline sits underneath.

• Replacement of the forcemain will take place from December to March, before road reconstruction kicks off.
• The Kansas Department of Transportation may reimburse the county up to $300,000 for construction.

Bigger picture for Johnson County Wastewater improvements

ugh the rest of this decade.

• The facility at 4800 Nall Ave. dates back to the 1940s and currently has the capacity for 15 million gallons of wastewater.
• As a whole, the project includes a full upgrade on the facility’s buildings and equipment, which county wastewater officials have said are reaching the end of their useful life.
• The total anticipated cost for the project is $574 million — part of which will be paid for through a $281 million loan from the Environmental Protection Agency.