The city’s public works department and BNSF Railway staff have begun work this morning to remove an unused rail spur downtown, which will cause traffic disruption through Wednesday.

The work, across the roadway at Kentucky and Sixth streets, will prohibit eastbound traffic on Sixth Street from Vermont to Kentucky Streets until 6 p.m. today.

Crews will remove the tracks in the 600 block of Vermont Street this evening, preventing motorists from turning south on Vermont until Tuesday afternoon. The third phase of the project will begin Tuesday night when the track from the 600 block of Massachusetts Street will be removed and traffic will not be allowed to turn south on Massachusetts Street until Wednesday afternoon.

Traffic control and message boards will be placed on Sixth Street ahead of Sunday’s start time, but detours will not be posted. Instead, city officials say, motorists can use Tennessee Street to access downtown from Sixth Street.