Quick work speeds Kasold reopening

Contractor to finish job early

Jeff Sauer, with R.D Johnson Excavating Co. of Lawrence, smooths dirt in the median on Kasold Drive between Bob Billings Parkway and 22nd Street in this file photo. Construction crews will work throughout the summer on multiple roads in Lawrence.

It won’t be much longer before a new stretch of Kasold Drive is finished.

For the past year, motorists on the west Lawrence thoroughfare have dealt with construction crews, two lanes of traffic and a 20 mph speed limit that’s been strictly enforced.

“Very slow – very, very slow,” said motorist Donna Benton when describing traffic on Kasold. “Can’t be in a hurry.”

Now workers are putting the finishing touches on $6 million worth of repairs and rebuilding on the road, between Bob Billings Parkway and 22nd Street. The stretch of Kasold could completely reopen – to four lanes and a 40 mph limit – by the end of July, more than three months ahead of plans.

“All the pavement is done and we’re doing real good on the schedule,” Chuck Soules, the city’s public works director, said Thursday.

The upgrades make the road less hilly and less prone to potholes, he said. A wide new sidewalk has been added on the west side.

“We don’t have to worry about it falling apart in the winter; that’s one good thing,” Soules said.

Soules said dry weather in the fall helped speed repairs. Contractor incentives didn’t hurt either; every day work finished ahead of the Oct. 11 deadline, the contractor, R.D. Johnson Excavating Co., gets $2,000, with a maximum of $100,000.

“There is an incentive,” Soules said. “We anticipate that he’s going to get all of it.”