A $130 million project to replace bridges, overhaul interchanges and
otherwise upgrade the Kansas Turnpike as it passes through the northern
edge of Lawrence remains on track for completion by the middle of 2011
— while another small stretch of the highway still awaits a refresher.
A five-mile section of the turnpike, starting a mile east of the
East Lawrence interchange and running just past the Lawrence service
area, will be revamped sometime during the next decade, turnpike
officials say.
And while no schedule has been set, officials know that the work
must be done. The section’s pavement already is 50 years old, and in
need of an overhaul to continue carrying the average 29,000 vehicles it
handles each day.
“This is a major capital project,” said Lisa Callahan, a spokeswoman
for the turnpike authority. “We know, definitely, that this five-mile
section of pavement, in the next 10 years, will have to be replaced.”
The project is being reviewed by engineers for inclusion in the
turnpike’s next list of long-term needs. Also being considered are
projects to replace bridges — both along and over the turnpike — that
have passed or are approaching 50 years of age.
The turnpike’s board of directors, by the end of next year, will be
expected to approve a list of projects and set an anticipated
construction schedule. Michael Johnston, the turnpike’s president and
CEO, has confirmed that the pavement-replacement east of Lawrence would
come sometime during the next 10 years.
“It isn’t imminent,” Callahan said.
Whether the reconstruction will include any additional lanes remains unclear.
From 2003 to 2007, the turnpike rebuilt a 13.4-mile stretch of
turnpike west of Lawrence, between the Lecompton and East Topeka
interchanges. That $54 million construction job widened the turnpike
from four to six lanes, to keep up with increased traffic.
The Lecompton-to-East Topeka section of turnpike carried an average
of 34,500 vehicles per day last year, making it the most-traveled
stretch of the 236-mile turnpike that runs from Wyandotte County to the
Oklahoma border.
And while the section between the East Lawrence interchange and the
Eastern Terminal in Johnson County ranks No. 2 in terms of traffic use,
the turnpike’s long-term projections don’t call for more lanes anytime
soon.
“It’s not in our foreseeable future,” Callahan said. “It would not
make good business sense for us, at that level of traffic, to widen
that area.”
Rex Fleming, turnpike project engineer for the ongoing upgrades
already under way in Lawrence, said rebuilding the five-mile stretch of
highway east of town likely would be a two-year job, whenever it might
occur. Traffic likely would be reduced to one lane in each direction as
construction continued.
“It’s one of the last pieces of original concrete that we have,”
Fleming said. “We’ll have to go down to dirt, take out the concrete
pavement and build back up to the top. … The turnpike’s a 50-year-old
facility. It has to be maintained.”