Sixth Street repaving creates long traffic backups downtown
Traffic downtown was backed up for several blocks Wednesday, July 13, 2011, while construction crews repaved Sixth Street between Massachusetts and Kentucky streets. Enlarge video
The traffic headaches that were supposed to happen Wednesday near the Sixth and Massachusetts intersection are now happening today.
Overnight rain on Tuesday caused construction crews to delay their work on repaving Sixth Street between Massachusetts to Missouri streets, city spokeswoman Megan Gilliland said. Now that work is happening today.
City Hall leaders are urging motorists to stay away from the area. In particular, the city is asking motorists to not use the downtown Kansas River bridges during the work. Instead, they’re suggesting motorists coming from the north use the Kansas Turnpike bridge, which will allow people to enter the city through the West Lawrence interchange.
The downtown bridges remain open, but all southbound traffic exiting the bridges will be funneled to the west. In other words, traffic won’t be able to access the downtown area from the bridges. Left turns onto Tennessee Street also will be prohibited. Massachusetts Street also will be closed at Seventh Street in order to prohibit people who are leaving downtown to access the area near the bridges.
The bridge disruptions are expected to last until early evening. The overall paving project for Sixth Street is expected to conclude Aug. 12. After crews finish paving the stretch of Sixth Street from Massachusetts to Kentucky, work will shift to repaving Sixth Street from Kentucky to Missouri. The project ultimately will repave Sixth Street all the way to Iowa Street.
Comments
Lindsey Buscher 5 years, 2 months ago
Chad - Your article states "early evening," but is there any indication of the likelihood the southbound traffic on the bridge will be unrestricted by or before rush hour?
Chad Lawhorn 5 years, 2 months ago
In talking with folks at City Hall, it is possible that it could be done by evening rush hour, but no one is advising that you make plans based on that. I think chances are greater than not that rush hour traffic will be impacted. Sorry I can't be more definitive, but estimating time on a construction project is pretty inexact. Chad Lawhorn Journal-World
Lindsey Buscher 5 years, 2 months ago
Thanks for the info, Chad, it was exactly the answer I think most of us needed.
I didn't expect a definitive answer, but you did get to the exact point of my question, which was to speculate on the likelihood that it will be all clear by rush hour.
Does not sound too likely so I will plan accordingly.
nlf78 5 years, 2 months ago
Chad - Can you find out if 6th St, in front of City Hall, is going to be reopened?
Chad Lawhorn 5 years, 2 months ago
What I've been told previously is that Sixth Street in front of City Hall will reopen once the paving work near the bridge is complete. So, if all goes according to plan, by Friday. Megan at City Hall is confirming that for me. If I find out different, I'll post that here. Thanks, Chad Lawhorn Journal-World
nlf78 5 years, 2 months ago
Thanks for checking into this. I was really hoping they would go ahead and open it while they are doing the repaving. Save some time and trouble in the drive home. But I guess I'll just plan on the drive home taking forever for the rest of the week.
Shockem211 5 years, 2 months ago
Sending my child elsewhere for childcare today to avoid the headache = Epic Fail.
flamingoroad 5 years, 2 months ago
When was the last time you went from west to east on the turnpike? Its 30 cents now. Still cheap to get from one side to the other and avoid headaches with the road work.
irvan moore 5 years, 2 months ago
i didn't even need/want to go to north lawrence today or tomorrow but now i'm upset that i can't
Luke Sapp 5 years, 2 months ago
this is an other example of the city not caring about poor people. North 7th was closed for 3 years! there is little or no drainage system in north lawrence yet the city worries about drainage in parts of west lawrence that havent been built. if the people who use the roads in north lawrence to get to i-70 found an other way i could get my kids out of the heat and over the bridge in under 30 minutes.not to mention displacing a trailer park full of people to build an other failed river front mall.any one else notice this??
MattressMan 5 years, 2 months ago
HUH?
justforfun 5 years, 2 months ago
Westside pays WAY higher property taxes. Why shoulden't they get better services? Just asking.
justforfun 5 years, 2 months ago
Westside pays WAY higher property taxes. Why shoulden't they get better services? Just asking.
flamingoroad 5 years, 2 months ago
That would be nice if the fee was waived. I was downtown trying to get over the bridge too. I ended up turning around and went to the west turnpike so I could get home. That area definitely cannot handle the traffic the road work creates.
Terry Sexton 5 years, 2 months ago
I can't find a small enough violin on which to accompany your troubles.
boxers_or_briefs 5 years, 2 months ago
I got through 6th & Wakarusa just fine earlier today...........
TheStonesSuck 5 years, 2 months ago
I have not been outside Lawrence city limits since 1997.
MattressMan 5 years, 2 months ago
Damned if they fix the streets and damned if they dont fix the streets. Life is full of every day inconvieniences., you have to learn to deal with them and move on.
Funny things is for all the complaining, as soon as the city is done with this portion KDOT is coming in to resurface the bridges. That'll give the complainers something to keep going on and on about for another month or two.
gatekeeper 5 years, 2 months ago
The issue is the poor planning. Instead of shutting everything down, they can plan better and keep traffic moving. That area is a giant cluster ****.
Some of us have the right to bitch. They're doing all this work, but still haven't repaved the roads in N. Lawrence that are torn to hell from when the redid the intersection at Johnny's and diverted all the traffic onto side streets. Those streets are so torn up and the city refuses to fix them. Residents of N. Lawrence get screwed all the time. Why has it been over a year and they still won't fix the roads.
When the repave the bridges, I'm sure they'll do it a lane at a time, keeping one lane open for traffic to travel on. They aren't doing this on 6th right now and are blocking off entire streets.
Jason Jantz 5 years, 2 months ago
I work in north Lawrence and live in east Lawrence which means I'm probably better off going to cr1 VIA Eudora and hooking up with k32 to get to work. On a side note, hurry up and finish the SLT already!
Jason Jantz 5 years, 2 months ago
By east, I mean in Prairie Park. Not walking or biking from there. My highway detour only took about 5 min longer than a normal commute, so that wasn't too bad!
kernal 5 years, 2 months ago
I considering going to the Sidewalk Sale this year, but with 6th St being resurfaced, traffic is going to be horrific.
Can you imagine coming in from Topeka and finding that mess? Might Cathy Hamilton consider forewarning them via the Capitol Journal or Channel 6 affiliate tv station over there?
Austin Bergstrom 5 years, 2 months ago
Would paving a major intersection like this be more convenient to do so at say 7pm-7am or maybe even 8pm-8am? Probably be a lot cooler too? But what do I know, I wear neither a suit nor tie!
Kryptonite 5 years, 2 months ago
In a previous article it was reported that the repaving crew will be working overnight while doing the work on sixth street.
jimmyjms 5 years, 2 months ago
Traffic was bumper to bumper between 6th & 7th streets on Ohio St. this morning as people tried to find a way around the congestion. No police, no traffic flagging, just chaos.
That kinda sucks.
Kontum1972 5 years, 2 months ago
yep... a real abortion....i came thru @ 6 am...was messed up then....then ran into some other repair work out of town.....Lawrence was the biggest mess....i think the Eagles were kinda hacked off too
Take_a_letter_Maria 5 years, 2 months ago
Yeah, a real pain in the dupa. My regular 10 minute drive in to work took 13 this morning.
What a bunch of whiney biotches.
Beth Ennis 5 years, 2 months ago
I'm not complaining about the fixing of the road or the traffic issue. What I would like to comment about is that it would have been nice to know that they were CLOSING DOWN access to the bridge going over the river this morning. I would not have wasted 15 minutes trying to find a road that was open on 6th street to get to, I would have just gone to Iowa and gotten on the Interstate. I eventually made it past the construction, but was upset that in the article they said "asking to not use" and "suggesting". Why not just tell us like it is. The road will be closed with no access to the bridge from downtown. I would have understood that. That's all I'm saying. I'm glad they are fixing roads, just let us know what is going on BEFORE it happens please! Thanks!
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