A long-closed portion of 19th Street is open to motorists today.
Chuck Soules, director of public works for the city, said crews completed the final pieces of road work at the intersection of 19th and Louisiana streets, which has been closed since May.
Monday was the deadline that the contractor, Lawrence-based LRM Industries, faced to complete the project or pay a fine for being late.
Soules said construction crews worked most Saturdays and some Sundays to ensure the road would open by the time classes started at adjacent Lawrence High School.
The $1.1 million project added a center turn lane on 19th west of Louisiana, which will allow vehicles to turn into the LHS parking lot without disrupting traffic flow. The project also includes an upgraded stoplight, a bus turnout lane on Louisiana and sidewalks on both sides of 19th.
A separate project, however, may disrupt traffic heading into LHS. Soules said repaving work is expected to soon begin on about a two-block section of Louisiana immediately north of 19th Street.
Comments
Christine Pennewell Davis 9 years, 1 month ago
cool
OldEnuf2BYurDad 9 years, 1 month ago
It's open!! I saw it with my own eyes.Take THAT, you atheists. With this evidence, how can you say there is no God?
gccs14r 9 years, 1 month ago
Fines started today, eh? That explains why I felt like I was riding on square wheels when I went through there tonight. Shoddy Lawrence paving at its best.
Curtis Lange 9 years, 1 month ago
Was one of the first to drive through there around 4pm. :) It is nice, but I can see where a few issues could come up with idiots getting in the left turn lane too soon to turn left onto Louisiana. Those are two separate left turn lanes, not one HUGE lane. It WAS nice driving through there and being able to see the street lines; haven't seen those between Louisiana and Kentucky in years, haha. They seemed to have this fixed when I drove through 19th and Louisiana, but at 4 the stop lights were still timed as if 19th St west of Tennessee was closed.
SofaKing 9 years, 1 month ago
LRM workers enjoyed throwing their lunch trash out of their heavy machinery vehicles while driving down the residential 18th Street. Yeah, you know who you are. Litterbugs.
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