Mud Creek Bridge construction northeast of Lawrence drags on

Traffic flows east across a bridge over Mud Creek northeast of Lawrence on U.S. Highway 24-32 on Tuesday night. Delays such as high water during part of the summer have caused difficulties in replacing piers for the bridge.

Delays in replacing the Mud Creek Bridge northeast of Lawrence will continue to keep drivers waiting.

Since May, the Kansas Department of Transportation has been working on the bridge near the intersection of U.S. Highway 24 and Kansas Highway 32. High waters along Mud Creek that lasted until late summer caused difficulties with placing piers for the bridge, KDOT spokeswoman Kim Qualls said.

“They had to do extra work,” she said.

KDOT had originally hoped for the $1.5 million project to be finished by late fall. The completion date has now been moved to next spring.

During the construction, traffic has been narrowed to one lane across the bridge. A temporary stoplight directs traffic through the construction zone.

For those who travel U.S. 24 regularly, the delay is bad news.

“It’s a pain,” said Ray Rummel, who lives east of the bridge and has to go through the intersection several times a day.

Timed right, Rummel said, drivers don’t have to wait at all. But it can take five minutes for the light to cycle through all three directions.

“But it seems longer than that,” Rummel said. The longest he has had to wait is about 10 minutes.

Alternative routes can be taken on nearby country roads, but the quickest way to Lawrence for many in the area is over the bridge.

“It has been a long, long time. We thought it would be over before this,” said Vivian Miller, who also lives east of the bridge. “But there is not much you can do about it. If you want to go to town, it’s the shortest way to go.”

Because the bridge is on a working-day schedule, not a calendar schedule, the project is not considered to be over budget or late, Qualls said. The contractors, Bryan Ohlmeier Construction, have about 160 working days to replace the bridge.

So far, the southern half of the bridge is completed; crews are now working on the northern side.