In the spring Park County commissioners talked about the major issues that could occur if a culvert on Lane 5 in rural Powell, a major artery into town, failed. 

So, instead of pushing off the project yet again, they agreed to pay just under $200,000 to local contractor CK Civil to get the work done. 

Work was substantially complete July 24, County Engineer Brian Edwards told commissioners in early August, in what proved to be a “short and sweet project.”

He said some aspects of the project proved to be more expensive, but CK Civil worked with the county to cut costs in other areas and not exceed the contract amount. 

“CK Civil did a good job on the project and worked with us on the schedule of the road closure,” Edwards said. “I felt like they did as good as they could do to get it completed and get the road open back up as soon as they could.”

Commissioner Lloyd Thiel was pleased with how the project went, and said while county workers may have been able to do the work for slightly less, bidding it out to a local contractor not only freed up county staff for other projects such as chip sealing but also provided more work to a local business. 

“It does come back around eventually in the taxpayers’ money and so I think this is a very successful story here,” he said.