Freeman Concrete Construction Co. employees, from left, Arturo Martinez, Derrick Smith, Javier Chavez and Scott Tice pour new sidewalks Tuesday along 19th Street just west of Louisiana Street. With school set to start in mid-August crews are working hard to complete the .2 million street-widening project.

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.”