photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Construction equipment set up just south of bridge of K-10 along U.S. 59/Iowa Street in Lawrence on Monday, March 16, 2026. The portion of U.S. 59/Iowa Street will close to traffic starting Friday at 7 p.m. as part of bridge work for the South Lawrence Trafficway expansion project.

A portion of U.S. 59/Iowa Street in Lawrence will be closed starting Friday for bridge work related to the Kansas Department of Transportation’s K-10/South Lawrence Trafficway expansion.

KDOT announced in a press release Monday afternoon that the area under the K-10 bridge on U.S. 59/Iowa Street will be closed fully to traffic starting at 7 p.m. Friday, conditions permitting. The closure will allow for construction work and girder placement on the new K-10/SLT bridge, according to the release.

The closure on U.S. 59/Iowa Street, one of the main ways to enter Lawrence from the south, is expected to last the whole weekend. The road will reopen once the work is complete or no later than 6 a.m. on Monday, March 23, according to KDOT.

During the construction work, the ramps to and from K-10 will remain open. Traffic that would normally use that portion of U.S. 59/Iowa Street can follow a marked detour that goes along West 31st Street, Haskell Avenue/East 1500 Road and North 1000 Road.

Construction on the approximately $171 million project, which is working to expand the SLT from a two-lane road to a four-lane road with a median, has led to other closures in recent months. Two exit ramps on K-10 — the U.S. 40/6th Street ramp onto eastbound K-10 and the eastbound K-10 exit ramp to Bob Billings Parkway — have been closed since February, as the Journal-World reported. KDOT officials said those exits are expected to be closed until late May.

KDOT plans to improve the interchange at U.S. 59/Iowa Street by consolidating the intersections on the south side of the interchange with folded diamond ramps, according to its website. In addition to the road expansion project, KDOT will build a pedestrian bridge across Iowa Street north of K-10. The bridge is expected to cost $1.5 million and will be built as part of a cooperative agreement between the City of Lawrence and KDOT for additional local projects.

The overall SLT expansion project is still on track to finish in late 2028, according to KDOT officials.

photo by: Kansas Department of Transportation

A map showing the future improvements planned around the U.S. 59/Iowa Street and K-10/South Lawrence Trafficway interchange.