Traffic backs up at 23rd and Iowa streets, in this photo looking north through the intersection, on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014. City officials said construction is ahead of schedule and crews may have traffic pretty

Traffic flow at the maze of orange construction cones also known as 23rd and Iowa streets should soon be improving.

City officials said construction crews are scheduled to open a key turning lane at the intersection before Kansas University’s first home football game on Sept. 6. Overall, the entire project is running ahead of schedule, and may be done before the original mid-November completion date.

“By mid-October, we’re hopeful that we’ll have traffic pretty much back to normal,” said Chuck Soules, director of public works. “We’ll still be out there doing some sidewalk and curb work and mill and overlaying, but it won’t be like it has been out there.”

Since May, construction crews have had various parts of the 23rd and Iowa intersection, the busiest in town, shut down. During most of the project, through traffic has been limited to one lane in each direction.

Soules said crews are about to finish work on the right-turn lane that takes motorists off of 23rd Street and allows them to turn northbound onto Iowa. Once completed in the coming days, that should move traffic through the construction zone more quickly.

Motorists will have to get used to the new turning lane, though. It’s replacing a wide, sweeping lane that was designed to allow motorists to merge into Iowa traffic at fairly decent speeds. The new lane is less sweeping and is designed to slow motorists. Drivers likely will have to stop before merging into Iowa Street traffic. Soules said the old design resulted in too many accidents.

When the entire intersection project is completed, it will feature dual left-turn lanes for motorists on 23rd Street wanting to turn south onto Iowa. Soules said that’s expected to significantly increase the number of vehicles that can travel through the intersection. The $3.7 million project also includes all new pavement, sidewalks and other repairs.

“It really needed the work,” Soules said. “The pavement had ruts four to six inches deep.”

Soules said the project has been an inconvenience for motorists but really has gone pretty well. He said there have been no worker injuries and no major traffic accidents.

“What I keep reminding people is that we won’t have to do this again for years and years,” Soules said.

Soules said work on other projects around town also is progressing:

• Motorists in town for the Sept. 6 football game may want to avoid 12th Street as they travel between downtown and Memorial Stadium. Work is underway to repair the intersection of 12th and Ohio streets, which was badly damaged by a waterline break. Soules said it’s possible the work may be done by the Sept. 6 game, but he is not optimistic. As it stands, motorists have to detour off of 12th Street when they get to Ohio.

• Work on the Sixth and Iowa street intersection is expected to be completed by mid-October. But motorists may want to prepare for a new twist to that project in the coming days. Soules said the exit ramp off of McDonald Drive that puts motorists eastbound on Sixth Street will be closed in the near future. It likely will remain closed until mid-October. Soules said motorists should watch for signs related to the closure and that they likely will detour onto nearby Rockledge Drive, or perhaps could take Iowa to Ninth Street, depending on their destination.

• West Lawrence motorists won’t have a roundabout with their Thanksgiving turkey. Plans had called for the roundabout at Wakarusa Drive and Inverness/Legends Drive to be completed by Thanksgiving. But Soules said the project will stretch into December. He said it took longer than expected for utility companies to relocate several lines. Traffic on Wakarusa Drive will continue to be limited to one lane in each direction through the duration of the project.