South Lawrence Trafficway

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On Tuesday, November 12, a three-year construction project will begin to complete the six-mile four-lane K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway freeway. The project will move existing K-10 onto a new alignment that will begin at the south junction of the U.S. 59 and K-10 interchange and reconnect with existing K-10 in east Lawrence (Douglas County).

Construction work on the project will be completed in phases. Each phase includes specific work and advance notification will be sent under separate cover for each phase of construction, including planned traffic impacts. An aerial map of the new K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway, including construction phasing and traffic impacts, can be found online at: http://www.ksdot.org/topekaMetro/projectstudytest.asp.

Starting on Tuesday, November 12, crews will begin clearing vegetation in preparation for grading work that will take place along the new Haskell Avenue alignment and possibly along the new Louisiana Street alignment. There will be minimal to no traffic impacts with this first phase as work is taking place off the existing roadway. Work will take place during daylight hours, Monday through Friday, with some occasional Saturday work.

Updated traffic information for the K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway project can be viewed online at: www.ksdot.org/topekametro/laneclose.asp.

The Kansas Department of Transportation urges all motorists to be alert, obey the warning signs, and "Give "˜Em a Brake!"  when approaching and driving through the project work zone.

Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. (Columbia, MO) is the primary contractor on this expansion project with a total contract cost of $129.8 million. The overall scheduled completion date for the K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway project is Fall 2016.

This project is funded by T-WORKS, the transportation program passed by the Kansas Legislature in May 2010. Find out more about this and other T-WORKS projects at: http://kdotapp.ksdot.org/TWorks/.

For more information on the K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway project, please contact Kimberly Qualls, Northeast Kansas Public Affairs Manager, at (785) 640-9340, or Steve Baalman, Area Engineer, at (785) 528-3128.  (KDOT Project #10-23 K-8392-04)

(emphasis as in original)

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TRAFFIC ALERT
24/7 FULL ROADWAY CLOSURES: Eastbound and westbound 35th Street from Iowa Street to the Baker Wetlands Visitor Center and 31st Street from E1700 Road to E1750 Road in Lawrence (Douglas County) will be CLOSED, 24/7 round the clock, for box culvert construction work beginning on Monday, December 9 at 7:00 a.m., weather permitting, through mid-January 2014.

No marked detours will be provided. Drivers should expect minor delays and must use alternate routes during the roadway closures.

RPK Note: the section of 31st in question is actually N 1300 Road.... it's a gravel road outside the city limits.

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Mike Ford has once again offered his perspective on the impending construction/destruction:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/dec/11/letter-real-injustice/?print

This one will probably get a reply. A check of historicalaerials.com confirms that, as part of the restoration of the wetlands, the landscape was, in one way or another, defaced. There is a large ditch running along the quarter-section line from the north end of the berm to the center of the section.