Some major road work — make that highway work, turnpike work, interstate work — begins this week.

And the orange barrels, merge signs and reduced speed limits may be around for a while.

“It is construction season,” said Kim Qualls, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Transportation. “We’re gearing up.”

A rundown:

• Project: Crews hired by the Kansas Turnpike Authority plan to lift some massive steel beams into place above North Third Street in North Lawrence, as part of an ongoing bridge-construction project. Effect: Traffic in both directions will face delays lasting seven to 10 minutes at a time, as flaggers direct vehicles through the work zone at various times during the week.

• Project: The Mud Creek bridge along U.S. Highway 24, east of Lawrence Municipal Airport, will be reduced to one lane beginning Monday, so that crews can start $1.5 million in work designed to give the bridge a fresh layer of pavement. Effect: Flaggers, and then temporary traffic signals, will determine how many vehicles, and from which direction, will be able to cross the bridge at any one time. The restriction is expected to remain in place into late fall.

• Project: Crews will start a $4.6 million pavement-replacement project in lanes for traffic heading west on Interstate 70, from 110th to 94th streets in Wyandotte County, which is near the Kansas Speedway and I-70’s connections with Interstate 435. Effect: Work will close lanes, leaving as few as one open for drivers who are traveling west. Several ramps also are scheduled to be closed: Northbound 435 to westbound I-70, Wednesday through late summer; westbound I-70 to southbound I-435, June to late summer; and westbound I-70 to northbound I-435, July to late summer.