La. construction almost finished
The countdown is on: crews are expected to finish construction work at 19th and Louisiana in just two weeks. Enlarge video
Construction and repair work on the tunnels beneath Kansas University continues near Jayhawk Boulevard and Mississippi Street, as seen Tuesday from atop KU's Watson Library. Both streets are scheduled to reopen by Aug. 11.
Orange barricades. Big tractors. Sweaty workers.
They make a perfect combination near 19th and Louisiana streets, where the clock is ticking for construction workers to finish what city engineers call the most challenging road project of the year.
Lawrence-based LRM Industries, the contractor working on the project, is expected to be finished in less than two weeks. It's a target that is realistic, but only if Mother Nature cooperates, said Chuck Soules, public works director.
"Pending weather, we're on schedule," he said. "Now, obviously, if it started raining and rained for the next two weeks, all bets are off. But that doesn't appear to be the case."
Construction crews have had the intersection of 19th and Louisiana closed for about two months. They've been working six days a week - unless rain's been falling - in an effort to complete the project before school starts at nearby Lawrence High School, Soules said.
The $1.2 million project involves widening the intersection to include new left-turn lanes, a new bus turnout lane on Louisiana Street, and a new traffic signal with video equipment to detect when traffic starts to back up. The project also will include a center turn lane on 19th Street that will run approximately the length of the LHS property, meaning cars turning into the high school will no longer back up traffic.
In addition, workers replaced water and sewer lines under 19th Street and will repave 19th Street from Naismith Drive to Massachusetts Street.
By next week, Soules said, traffic signals would go in at the intersection and striping should be placed on the street.
"Things will be taking shape," he said.
Soules said the project has been delayed a bit by spring showers and by some additional work the school district had tied into the project.
People living around the work zone said traffic has more than doubled on side streets as drivers look for a way to navigate around the construction. A Kansas Department of Transportation map from October 2007 indicates between 20,000 and 23,000 cars traveled through the intersection every day, the city said.
The project sits adjacent to Lawrence High School, 1901 La., where students will begin returning to school Aug. 13. The contractor has until Aug. 4 to finish the project.
Some people living near the intersection hope work is done on time, fearing traffic in their neighborhoods could get even worse when school does resume at Lawrence High and nearby Kansas University.
"If they don't get done, students are going to have a problem getting to school," said Wiley Scott, who lives in the area. "When school's going, things get pretty busy."
While Soules said he's "pretty confident" the roads will reopen by the Aug. 4 deadline, he said it may take additional time to complete construction of sidewalks and cleanup along the roads.
"Just give us a couple more weeks and we'll get it open," Soules said. "I think people will see it was well worth the wait."
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consumer1 (anonymous) says…
This is going to be a very nice addition and resolve a much needed traffic problem. However, I am still just a little "bewildered" about the rest of the streets in Lawrence. Pot holes have been "patched" which means this winter we will have fresh pot holes within a month, which means next spring we will suffer, and I mean suffer with more pot holes than one city should ever have to navigate around. Also, has anyone else noted, you can barely find the lines that separate lanes on most streets. Lawrence City streets are a mess. We worry about what visitors think except when it comes to the disrepair of the streets. Too bad.
KS (anonymous) says…
Just what we need. More left turn lanes with a traffic light. We can all stop there and burn up $4 a gallon gasoline. Should have been an expanded roundabout. Now we get to support Western Resources on the energy that intersection will burn for years.
dulcinea47 (anonymous) says…
They haven't even patched the potholes from last winter on my street.
MattressMan (anonymous) says…
What a bunch of whiney cry babies we are this morning huh? West lawrence exit whaaaPot holes whaaaLeft turn lane, evil Westar whaaaMore pot holes whaaaLet me know when you all decide to run for the commission and you'll have my vote as you would be able to wave a magic wand for endless revenue streams and have all problems fixed in no time.
TheOriginalCA (anonymous) says…
Let's see some green cards for these guys.
Trobs (anonymous) says…
It's easy to fix these problems MattressMan. Either cut social services or raise taxes. Then you have lots of money to "spend on road repair." Easy right? Either way angers a lot of the voters. Man politics is fun.
RogueThrill (anonymous) says…
"Let's see some green cards for these guys."Good idea! Let's make all brown people prove citizenship on demand. Put these guys on some kind of watch list.
hellbilly_grrl (anonymous) says…
"Let's see some green cards for these guys."I was waiting for some kind of jacka** comment like that! Thank you, TheOriginalCA, you did not disappoint. Obviously, since a couple of the workers are Hispanic they must be "illegals". Or wait, do you think Derrick and Scott snuck across the border from Canada?
pimp11 (anonymous) says…
TheOriginalCA (Anonymous) says: Let's see some green cards for these guys.-------------------------------------------------------------Get your a$$ out there and do the work if you want to complain about green cards. Enjoy your office job today.
McShindig (anonymous) says…
This is government mind control. That's what this is. Next thing you know, there'll be advanced-left turn signals and microchips stapled to our ears.
Poon (anonymous) says…
I'm calling the Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahmbulance!That way, next time I whine about something (and I will), someone can call the Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahmbulance for me. We are all in this together folks,
Poon (anonymous) says…
^ Thanks Don!
iMaMoM (anonymous) says…
'Let's see some green cards for these guys'I don't know why I'm even bothering to respond to this ignorant comment, but.....I'm Scott's mother and I can verify that he was born in Bluffton Ohio....need a 'green card' to cross state lines now? Derrick is from Eurdora.....I can't vouch for the other two men, but they ARE working and not living off of taxpayers money!
jafs (anonymous) says…
At the risk of being called a whiner, I think it's outrageous that Lawrence streets are in such disrepair.The city budget has just about doubled since I moved here about ten years ago - it is now at approximately $12million/month.For that amount of money, everything in the city should work well and look good, imho.And, for the constant growth promoters, the main reason we need to widen streets and add turn lanes is because of increases in population (in addition to the extra wear and tear on existing infrastructure). These costs should be factored into any cost/benefit analysis of growth.