County’s repaving projects this summer include stretch of 31st Street

Douglas County plans to spend nearly $1.2 million repaving major roads in the rural area outside Lawrence — including one major street at the edge of town.

A half-mile section of 31st Street, from the western edge of a mobile home park to Louisiana Street, is one of five resurfacing projects the government has planned for later this summer and early fall.

The stretch of 31st — formally known as North 1300 Road outside the city — is slated to receive a special coating of pavement, one designed to improve drainage and slow the pace of weather-related damage in years ahead.

Keith Browning, county engineer and director of public works, said that the driving surface also should be smoother — a noticeable improvement for drivers who have grown accustomed to bumps, dips and other ride-rattling conditions.

“It won’t be perfect, but we will be helping it,” Browning said.

Other projects lined up:

• Douglas County Road 458, from East 1500 to East 1600 roads. Crews will be expected to grind off the top layer of pavement and replace it with a new, 2-inch-thick coating that starts two miles east of U.S. Highway 59 and continues for a mile to the east.

• County Road 1055, from North 1000 to North 700 roads, excluding an area near the Cedar Hill Gun Club. As planned, crews would grind off the top layer of pavement and replace it with a new, 2-inch-thick blanket of pavement starting three miles south of 31st Street and stretching to just west of Vinland. County Road 1055 is the extension of Haskell Avenue, south of Lawrence.

• County Road 460, from East 1700 to East 1900 roads. On this section of road — running through Vinland — workers would apply a layer of new pavement that is 2 inches thick, without removing any of the road underneath.

• County Road 1029, from County Road 442 north to U.S. Highway 40 northwest of Lawrence. The 2.5-mile section of road would get a new layer of pavement that is two inches thick. County Road 442 also is known as Stull Road.

Terese Gorman, the county’s engineering division manager, said the work on 31st would be scheduled for early August, and be finished before classes resumed at Kansas University, Haskell Indian Nations University, Baker University and other schools in the area.

The remainder of the work would be slated for mid- to late August, likely into September, Gorman said.