KDOT warns drivers: Be ready for delays on K-10 during roadwork, starting on Monday

The Kansas Department of Transportation is warning drivers on Kansas Highway 10 about possible delays east of Lawrence beginning Monday, when work is scheduled to start on a repaving and rumble strip project.

In August, KDOT officials awarded a $4.3 million bid to Hamm Co. of Perry to expand shoulders on K-10 east of Lawrence in Douglas County and install rumble strips to alert drivers who veer onto the shoulder. The project, scheduled to begin Monday and end Nov. 4, also includes milling and repaving the driving lanes.

Kim Qualls, a KDOT spokeswoman, said crews will not work during peak travel times — morning and evening rush hours and Kansas University game days — but she said it’s such a busy highway that drivers should be aware of possible delays.

The Johnson County portion of K-10 east of Lawrence already has rumble strips in the shoulders, but the Douglas County portion does not.

In April, after a fatality crash near the Church Street exit in Eudora killed two people, including 5-year-old Cainan Shutt, Gov. Sam Brownback ordered the KDOT to have the rumble strip project completed this fall, and Brownback also required KDOT to work with local residents and government officials to study whether to install cable-median barriers on K-10. The study group has been meeting once a month since May.