|
|
 |
Jeremy Gaston
| Reporter
Much of the county will see some sort of delay in their daily commute
in the coming weeks, if they haven’t already. Resurfacing
work on K-31 between Osage City and US-75 is already underway, and
will soon begin on a 26-mile stretch of US-56.
The K-31 resurfacing began July 11, starting with the most inconvenient
portion of the project – the junction with US-75.
“We coordinated with Kansas Highway Patrol at the intersection,”
said Earl Bosak, area engineer for the Kansas Department of Transportation.
“They did that first to get it out of the way.”
Flag crews and pilot cars affected traffic on both highways Monday,
but had moved off US-75 after completing heater scarification on
the adjacent stretch of K-31. The process scrapes up a layer of
existing asphalt, heats and mixes the rock and oil, and relays a
rejuvenated surface in a single pass from several trucks.
The K-31 project was scheduled to be completed last year, but was
postponed when funds sank and prices skyrocketed.
“Because of the price of oil, they couldn’t go as far
last year,” Bosak said. “We got another group of funds
[this year] and that was on the top of the list.”
The funds to pay for the project came from KDOT’s substantial
maintenance funds, classified as a 1R project.
“They’re resurfacing projects we do every year,”
Bosak said.
Bosak said the only additional delay on US-75 would be when the
contractor, Dustrol, Inc., goes back over the surface with chip
seal.
“The heater scarification has to be done for 10 days before
the chip seal,” Bosake said. “The chip sealing will
affect US-75 for just a couple hours.”
Dustrol’s contracted cost for the project is $714,096, and
has a scheduled completion of “late July.” The project
also includes K-31 north from Osage City to US-56 junction.
“They should probably be done with the heater scarification
by the end of this week,” Bosak said. “Then they’ll
wait a week and come back and put the chip-seal on, and that’ll
take two or three days at the most.”
Work on US-56 was scheduled to begin Monday, but was delayed by
a reordering of projects by Heckert Construction.
“The contractor decided to do K-130 in Lyon County first,”
Bosak said. “It’s going to take a couple of days to
do that, and it will probably be Friday or Monday before they get
to US-56.”
The resurfacing on US-56 involves a larger stretch of road, but
simpler technique, calling only for a chip seal resurfacing. The
project has a $596,443 price tag and a mid-August completion date.
Bosak indicated that once started, the project could be completed
within a couple of weeks.
“Chip seal goes pretty fast,” he said. “They spray
oil on the surface of the road, and put a rock chip on top to give
it a surface.”
Both projects will be completed one lane at a time, allowing traffic
to flow with the use of pilot cars. There will be no posted detours.
“If locals know a detour, take it,” Bosak said. “Otherwise,
we’ll tell them to go through the project like normal, they’ll
just have a 10 to 15 minute wait.” |
|
|
|
