Road work snarls west side

Simultaneous construction projects force waits, detours

Tony Matalone said the timing for closing County Road 458 couldn’t be worse.

The road closing, which has been pushed back to Monday, means three of the four major east-west roadways into Lawrence are either fully or partially blocked.

“I just really wish there was more planning about what construction would be happening and when,” said Matalone, who lives at 560 North 900 Road on the south side of Clinton Lake. “The entry points to Lawrence are going to be really limited.”

Sixth Street, Clinton Parkway and County Road 458 are all undergoing construction. That leaves Kansas Highway 10 as the only major west-side access free of orange cones.

Officials also are concerned.

Lawrence City Commissioner Mike Amyx said the different projects and closures seemed to lack coordination among various agencies, including City Hall and Douglas County.

County Commission Chairman Charles Jones said he would like to discuss the road closure at tonight’s commission meeting.

But other officials defended the planning.

“We knew that our project on 458 and the Clinton Parkway project would be sharing part of a detour route along K-10. But it’s going to be a short overlap,” County Public Works director Keith Browning said.

He also said that closing 458 was changed to Monday from Thursday because of work delays and an event at the Clinton Lake Model Airplane Area, which can be accessed by the county road.

“We thought with what was going on with the model airplane event, that it would be prudent to wait to close it,” Browning said.

City Manager Mike Wildgen noted three separate agencies have handled the three construction projects. Sixth Street is a Kansas Department of Transportation project. The roundabout project on Clinton Parkway is a city project that is part of a benefit district paid for by developers, and 458 is a county project.

All three agencies think their projects are important, Wildgen said.

“It brings up the question of which one gets first priority and which one has to wait until the end,” he said.

There could be some relief for drivers soon, however. Weather permitting, officials said, Clinton Parkway could reopen next week.