Construction dust and detour signs have been a regular sight lately on Kasold Drive, the site of millions of dollars worth of road improvements that will continue in coming months.

“I think the intent with all of this has been trying to piece-by-piece work through the Kasold corridor, so to speak,” said Dena Mezger of the city’s Public Works Department. “Eventually we’re just going to work our whole way up and down Kasold. It’s fairly old.”

Here’s what’s been happening in recent months:

¢ In late 2006, work began on a $4.3 million city project to improve Kasold north of Peterson Road, changing it from a two-lane blacktop to a widened road with a curb, gutter, median and roundabouts at cross streets. The road is expected to reopen in the fall.

“It will be more of an urban road,” Mezger said.

¢ When it opens, the widened Kasold Drive north of Peterson will connect with a bridge that’s been built in recent months by the county and the state across the Kansas Turnpike. The $3.2 million bridge will be long enough to span six lanes as the turnpike is widened in the future.

¢ Work began in fall 2006 on a $5.5 million project to resurface, change the elevation and install a new water line under the stretch of Kasold between Bob Billings Parkway and roughly 22nd Street. In recent months, traffic has been down to one lane in each direction. Mezger said the project likely would be finished in the summer, ahead of an initial deadline to have it finished by October.