The Garden City Telegram
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Traffic patterns to change near Holcomb
Published 10/15/2009 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
HOLCOMB -- Kansas Department of Transportation officials plan to close Big Lowe Road just north of U.S. Highway 50 beginning Oct. 26 -- temporarily diverting Holcomb traffic for several weeks -- as they begin the next phase of construction on the highway's four-lane project.
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Laurie Sisk/Telegram A backhoe moves dirt during construction of the west end of a bridge near the U.S. Highways 50/83 junction Wednesday afternoon.
KDOT's public affairs manager Kirk Hutchinson said he expects contractors to be ready to close the intersection at Big Lowe just north of Holcomb Scraper Inc., in a little more than a week, and presented plans to Holcomb city officials during Wednesday's night's City Council meeting.
Construction crews subsequently will begin work on the intersection of Big Lowe and what is designated as Road 600L, which eventually will serve as the access road to properties on the north side of the highway, west of Big Lowe.
During the phase, Big Lowe will remain open at the intersection of U.S. 50 for access to the south and to Holcomb Scraper and Acosta Homes on the north side of the highway.
Hutchinson told city council members Wednesday that the tie-in to the access road should be closed for about two weeks, and drivers headed north of Holcomb may have to take North Little Lowe Road -- about a mile east of Big Lowe -- while the intersection is closed to traffic.
Finney County Public Works Director John Ellermann said he expects more traffic along North Little Lowe over the next few weeks and that county road workers will be stepping up maintenance of the unpaved road.
The access dirt road north and west of Holcomb Scraper currently is being paved with asphalt, but more work still has to be done. The Oct. 26 date could be tentative given the contractor's pace and depending on weather conditions, Hutchinson said.
Once the new access road is paved and completed, all traffic on Big Lowe north of the highway will be detoured onto the access road, and Big Lowe will be closed completely north of U.S. 50.
It will remain closed until the interchange construction is complete, Hutchinson said.
"The interchange is going to take quite a while, but we're hoping to have the overpass done by next fall," Hutchinson said. "It's a long-term project. It takes quite a while to build a bridge."
KDOT construction engineer Craig Schlott told Holcomb officials Wednesday that heavy construction on the interchange should begin during spring and summer next year, hopefully overlapping with the school district's summer vacation months.
At that time, KDOT plans to close Big Lowe south of the highway.
"It shouldn't be during school time if everything works out," Schlott said.
KDOT traffic count numbers show an average of 8,900 vehicles, 1,380 of those commercial trucks, a day just west of Holcomb, and 7,940 vehicles, including 1,350 commercial trucks, east of Holcomb.
Construction at the U.S. 50/83 junction is under way, and contractors are working on getting the overpass bridge in place, Hutchinson said.
The berms -- big piles of dirt -- for the bridge still have a settlement period before work can continue, Hutchinson said.
KDOT traffic counts show an average of 8,230 vehicles a day east of the U.S. 50/83 junction; 8,160 vehicles west of the junction; 4,770 vehicles north of the junction; and 4,400 south.
Hutchinson said KDOT officials still plan to have the entire four-lane project, costing nearly $48 million, complete by July 2011, which extends from IBP Road in Holcomb to the Third Street/U.S. 50 intersection just north of Garden City.
Transportation officials hope the project will reduce the number of points at which traffic is entering and exiting along the highway and improve intersection safety by adding turn lanes with ramps for vehicles to enter and exit the highway.
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