That seems awfully early. I seem to recall the reconstruction through Emporia, which I wouldn't have been able to do if it took place in 1993. Perhaps I'm thinking of the portion east of US-50, though. 2003 sounds like the time period I'm thinking of, so that may be it. I don't think it has gotten an overlay yet; I will be in the area on the 25th so I can check.
It may be that I am misremembering. I have always remembered the length east of the US 50 exit as being asphalt, with reflective cracking at typical concrete joint spacing. However, the KDOT pavement summary is not clear about whether a surface described as asphalt overlaid on Portland cement concrete, "last constructed" in 2002 and "last improved" in 2012, received an overlay in 2002 and then again (maybe microsurfacing?) in 2012, or if it received full-depth reconstruction in Portland cement in 2003 and then an asphalt overlay in 2012. I am inclining toward the latter explanation since the rigid (concrete) layer is described as being 305 mm (12 in) thick, and KDOT's twelve-inch Portland cement concrete policy for Interstates that carry heavy truck traffic dates from the mid-1990's at earliest.
I don't remember ever seeing bare concrete on this stretch, but my memory is unreliable since there was a period of time between 2003 and 2012 when I did not drive to Kansas City at all. It may be that reconstruction in Portland cement concrete failed early and KDOT had to overlay it, and this all happened between consecutive trips I made to Kansas City. I can assure you, however, that the running surface is now asphalt as of my last trip there almost three weeks ago.
I was at KSU from 1993 to 1998 and occasionally passed through Emporia on roadtrips or while moving between Wichita and DC for the summer. The Emporia bypass was concrete and was never under construction at any of the times I drove it. However, KDOT seems to have applied an asphalt overlay to a short segment from Burlingame Road to the US 50 exit around 2000.
I do know for certain that the signs east of US-50 were replaced when the pavement was reconstructed, because there were some legend changes on the signs. An exit that was once signed for simply "County Road" became "County Road R1", while the baffling "Thorndale"–I can find no reference to any place by that name at all on maps, but I do have written record of that being on the sign–became "County Road U".
I don't remember Thorndale, but besides your records, I wonder if it survived on one of the early exit lists (Highway Heaven or something like that). It appears to be the kind of place whose location you know if you are local. I found this Facebook reference:
https://www.facebook.com/events/397256283731044/permalink/397384017051604/(Road P5 is actually a few miles west of Road U.) Thorndale is not among the townships or unincorporated communities Wikipedia lists for Lyon County. Newspapers.com turns up a 1973 Emporia
Gazette reference to a "Thorndale Subdivision" in a legal notice, but it doesn't seem substantial enough to blow a free trial to venture further.
Strangely, there is a gap in Coffey and Osage counties on I-35 between the 2000s reconstruction projects. This gap falls between the Lyon—Coffey county line and the start of the Ottawa bypass reconstruction in Franklin County. While the road surface is not terrible, it is quite a bit worse than the reconstructed segments on either side of it.
This part of I-35 includes three segments. The easternmost of the three, in eastern Osage and western Franklin counties, runs through the Chippewa Hills between the K-31 Waverly exit and US 59 southbound just outside Ottawa. It was reconstructed in Portland cement concrete 1995-1998; when I was at KSU, this was the length of free I-35 that always had head-to-head traffic somewhere. It has not been overlaid but is starting to have joint problems.
The middle segment, US 75 Lyndon/Burlington exit (Beto Junction) to K-31 Waverly exit, is original 1972 asphalt pavement, last overlaid in 2006. The western segment, Lyon/Coffey county line east to Beto Junction, was reconstructed in Portland cement concrete in 2005 and nothing about its surface condition sticks out in my memory.
I have kept track of the segment of I-35 between Emporia and Kansas City fairly well considering how far from home it is, because it's the route we used on biennial visits to Kansas City. As a kid and teenager this was one of the few segments of out-of-state Interstate that I got to experience regularly, so I was hyper-attentive to details on it. I do clearly remember many of the reconstruction projects that took place on it, including the above-mentioned one and the one through Franklin County. These were fascinating because I had never seen OkDOT do such a thing.
I was a newly minted driver at the time, teaching myself how to do my own car repairs and learning all about how synthetic oils can make a car last virtually forever (subject to all kinds of asterisked qualifiers), so I was really proud of the fact that each of us in Kansas was saving hundreds of dollars annually on suspension wear and tear by rebuilding the Interstates. But after twenty years' worth of opportunity to observe premature failures of what were supposed to be "lifetime" pavements, I have somewhat gone sour on this work.
The first ten-year comprehensive highway program included the relocation and full-depth reconstruction of US 50 in Portland cement concrete between Newton and Florence. This was done in three major segments, two of which were relocation while the third (between Newton and Walton) was full-depth reconstruction on the original subgrade with all traffic detoured via K-15 and a county road which KDOT repaved at its own expense. Some bright spark at KDOT had the idea to use a sealant rather than an asphalt layer to waterproof the subgrade prior to laying concrete. When the new road opened, we had a couple of trouble-free years to enjoy the vastly improved geometry and increased passing opportunity (passing lanes were provided). But then the sealant failed, so water got into the subgrade, slabs started cracking, etc. KDOT spent years retrofitting dowels, cutting out and replacing failed slabs, etc. before it finally threw in the towel and put down an asphalt overlay. In the end, the only part of the finished improvement that was more or less free of problems was on top of dirt that had already been tightly compacted under fifty or sixty years' worth of traffic.
Author
Topic: KDOT Contract Lettings - Updated Monthly since April 2015. (Read 113608 times)