BROKEN BOW, Neb. – Visitors to the Custer County courthouse in Broken Bow will no longer need to walk around the building to find an open door. The building’s east entrance was recently re-opened with the completion of a stair renovation.
Custer County Supervisor Dwain Bryner said that the project was pursued to make the stairs more friendly to traverse, with a deeper tread and less rise. An improvement in look was another goal alongside functionality.
With an original contract that set work to begin April 15 with a completion in May, the project actually ended up starting in May with the stairs opening just recently in December.
The stretched project timeline simply came down to the job not being done in a timely or satisfactory way, confirmed in the recent Board of Supervisors meeting where the contract with the original contractor was amended from over $212,000 down to $160,000.
While functional, Bryner said about $25,000 of work still needs to be done with a new contractor.
“We’ll do some grinding to even the stairs out so that there’s proper drainage because the slope wasn’t correct,” said Bryner.
The ‘bones’ of the stair project, so to speak, are solid Bryner explained, “We had a structural engineer come in and look at it. Structurally, it’s sound. But it just needed corrections made.”
Visitors to the Custer County courthouse this winter shouldn’t be surprised to see the stairs closed when snowy or icy weather hits, due to the fresh concrete not being able to have salt spread on it early in its life.
