Mark – Can somebody please enlighten me on why Kasold has a middle turning lane over the turnpike bridge? — bndairdundat, from a post on an earlier Wheel Genius blog entry.Good question. And while I had my suspicions, I didn’t want to rely on my own recollection of the circumstances. So I turned to some experts for enlightenment:• Schoeb Uddin, traffic engineer for the city of Lawrence.• Keith Browning, county engineer and director of public works for Douglas County.• Terese Gorman, the county’s engineering division manager, who previously worked as city engineer.The consensus: While there is no center turn lane on the bridge, it’s easy to see how someone might think there is.Why? The city, county and Kansas Turnpike Authority teamed up a couple years ago to replace the two-lane bridge, and built in some extra space for lanes to be used in future years.Some background:The turnpike authority needed the bridge to be replaced with a longer version, so that it could accommodate widening of the turnpike below.The county also wanted the original bridge replaced, as officials had grown weary of ever-increasing demands for patching holes on the surface — damage that indicated problems with the bridge below.And the city wanted to be sure that whatever bridge was installed would be large enough to handle future development in northwest Lawrence, where the city limits stretch to the turnpike and will be expected to cross over in the coming years.With all that said, the three players in this deal came up with a plan: Make the bridge wide enough to handle four lanes of traffic — two in each direction — plus a pedestrian/bike on each side.Concurrent work called for widening Kasold Drive south of the bridge. The road remained two lanes, but was widened to include a raised, landscaped median down the center.Because the median leads right up to the bridge, the bridge’s lane markings were aligned to match the traffic pattern.Thus, there’s a center area across the bridge that is not open to traffic. It looks like a center turn lane, but in reality does not serve as such because there simply is no reason to have one. The road north of the bridge remains a typical, two-lane road — for now.So, effectively, what appears to be a turn lane is simply a place to hold in reserve, for whatever traffic needs arise when more homes, businesses and other projects emerge north of the turnpike in the coming years.”It’s only to accommodate the configuration south of the bridge, but we still anticipate Kasold north of the bridge will be a four-lane roadway in the future,” Browning said. “That width of bridge will accommodate that road, when needed.”Added Gorman: “The bridge is going to be there a very long time. This is leaving options open in the future.”The bridge project cost about $3.7 million, of which the city contributed $2.27 million, using federal funds dedicated for city transportation projects. The turnpike contributed $830,000, while the county kicked in $618,000.Hope this helps.Keep those questions coming…