The end really is near for construction work at 23rd and Iowa streets, the city’s director of public works said Tuesday.

Crews have completed the major work at the busy intersection, but still have minor tasks to do such as pouring concrete around manhole covers and installing pavement markings, said Chuck Soules, director of public works.

“By contract, they are supposed to have no lane restrictions by Thanksgiving, and we’ll certainly meet that schedule,” Soules said.

Most of the lanes are open, he said. Crews have been shutting down one to two lanes at a time to conduct the limited work that remains. The approximately $3.7 million project included design changes so that all four approaches to the intersection have dual left-turn lanes. Soules said city crews soon would program the new traffic signals to take full advantage of the dual left-turn lanes.

“People should spend less time waiting for a light to turn,” Soules said.

Right-turn lanes also were reconfigured to cut down on accidents as cars merge into traffic. Aesthetic improvements include new medians to replace the crumbling, green concrete medians that had been in place for years.

“It is going to be an intersection that looks a lot better, and it won’t be one that people try to avoid anymore because it is always bottled up,” Soules said.

In other traffic related news:

• Soules said he’s keeping his fingers crossed for better weather to aid work on a Wakarusa Drive roundabout. Crews continue to work on a roundabout at Wakarusa Drive/Inverness/Legends Drive, but because of the current low temperatures it’s not clear when concrete can be poured.

Soules said crews have two more major concrete pours to complete to allow the road to fully open for traffic. He is optimistic the weather will improve enough in the coming weeks to allow that installation, but he said work to complete sidewalks in the area likely won’t take place until the spring.

“Our focus right now is to get the traffic lanes open,” Soules said.

Traffic on part of Wakarusa Drive is restricted to one lane in each direction. Motorists on Wakarusa aren’t able to turn directly onto Legends Drive, but must take a detour.

Soules estimated about three-quarters of the necessary concrete work for the road is done. He said if weather doesn’t improve — temperatures must be above freezing to pour concrete — the city could install asphalt to make the road fully functional during the winter. But that would require removing the asphalt in the spring and replacing it with concrete.

Construction began this summer on the project, and work was scheduled to be completed about now. But Soules said the project fell several weeks behind at the beginning when several utility lines were not properly relocated.

“When we began to start, they were still in the way,” Soules said of the utility infrastructure, which each utility company is required to move.

• Work to create new turn lanes at Sixth and Iowa streets is largely done, Soules said. But the ramp that allows traffic to exit McDonald Drive and head east on Sixth Street remains closed while crews continue to work on a sidewalk. Soules said he expects the ramp to be open by Thanksgiving.

• Soules said the Kansas Department of Transportation continues to tell him that portions of 31st Street east of Ousdahl will be closed until mid 2015. Crews are working in that area as part of the South Lawrence Trafficway project.