photo by: KDOT

The map shows closures planned for a portion of Wakarusa Drive in 2026.

The timeline is being pushed back on construction on Wakarusa Drive because of utility relocation issues that weren’t accounted for in the original plans, the Kansas Department of Transportation said Thursday in a news release.

As part of the South Lawrence Trafficway reconstruction project, Wakarusa was closed on Aug. 19 just south of the Clinton Parkway intersection, to a point just north of the driveway entrance to the Miller Mart convenience store. That short segment of road was expected to be closed for 45 days.

However, KDOT said Thursday that the closure will now be extended by several weeks “due to utility relocation conflicts.” KDOT did not provide any additional information about which utilities needed to be relocated.

Patrons will still be able to access the Miller Mart business if they approach it from the south on Wakarusa Drive.

Two other closures on Wakarusa that were expected to take place this fall and winter will also be pushed back because of this change. They will be rescheduled to take place next year, KDOT said.

While the closures are in city limits, KDOT, not the city, is overseeing them as part of the SLT project. The $171 million project will expand the bypass from two lanes to four lanes with a median from Iowa Street in southern Lawrence to the Kansas Turnpike in northwest Lawrence.

As the Journal-World has reported, multiple construction projects in Lawrence have encountered delays or changes of plan throughout the past year because of unexpected problems that were discovered once construction began. These include a multimillion-dollar change to the Jayhawk Watershed Project to relocate a storm sewer after the city discovered that it passed under the outdoor pool near downtown; and a delay in construction on Bob Billings Parkway after crews encountered a limestone ledge that they didn’t know was there.