KDOT provided this engineers’ map of a roundabout that will replace the current intersection of U.S. 75 and K-31/K-268. Note that north is to the right on the map.
Construction scheduled to begin this fall
After letting bids last month, the Kansas Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that a bid had been accepted for the roundabout project planned for the intersection of U.S. Highway 75 and state highways 31 and 268.
According to the announcement, KDOT accepted a bid from Smoky Hill LLC, of Salina, in the amount of $2,541,251.01 for construction of the roundabout.
KDOT held an open house Sept. 19 at Osage City to announce the upcoming construction of the roundabout and the proposed renovation of seven miles of K-31 east of Osage City.
At the public meeting, KDOT said construction of the roundabout is expected to begin this fall. The roundabout was planned in response to requests from Osage County residents for a safer intersection. The roundabout is designed to address concerns about the safety of the intersection, which crash history includes one fatality and 15 injury accidents from January 2004 to August 2009.
The transportation department also noted that U.S. 75 is a north-south corridor through Kansas for large trucks, including equipment such as turbines and blades for the wind energy industry, and the roundabout has been designed to accommodate such loads and standard load lengths up to 80 feet. It can also accommodate specialty carriers with rear steering at lengths of 195 feet or longer.
The roundabout project will also include a new commuter parking lot on the southeast corner of the intersection that will be accessible from K-268.
During the project, shoofly lanes will be constructed to allow highway traffic to bypass the construction. The project will be done in four phases and is scheduled to be completed by late fall of 2014. Total project cost is estimated at $4,059,000.
In a plan unveiled during the September open house, KDOT announced the K-31 project will construct a new highway with shoulders, slightly south of the existing highway, and will flatten hills, improving safety and enhancing passing opportunities.
KDOT said survey work on the K-31 project has been completed and geology investigation will begin this fall. Preliminary design is under way, and right of way acquisition is expected to begin in 2015. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2017, with completion by fall of 2018. KDOT estimates construction cost will be $14 million, but total project cost is estimated at $16,350,000 for the seven-mile stretch of highway.
See related story here.
Informational handouts for both projects are available online:
U.S. 75: http://kdotapp.ksdot.org/ProjDocuments/US-75RoundaboutPublicOpenHouseHandout.pdf
K-31: http://kdotapp.ksdot.org/ProjDocuments/K-31_Open_House_Handout_Final.pdf
In Wednesday’s announcement of bids accepted for projects around the state, it was noted that a bid was also accepted for a bridge project in Osage County on a county road one mile north and 2.1 miles west of Michigan Valley. Midwest Construction Company Inc., Holton, was the winning bidder with a bid of $343,362.26.
