Bridge work to begin soon

On Monday, Feb. 24, weather permitting, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) will begin a project to replace two bridges on Kansas Highway 39 southwest of Fort Scott.

The bridges are located to the east and west of the junctions with K-3 south of Uniontown and north of Hepler.

The bridge over Flat Rock Creek is almost five miles west of the K-3 junction to Uniontown. The bridge over Paint Creek is approximately one mile east of the K-3 junction to Uniontown and one-half mile east of the K-3 junction to Hepler. Wednesday, Feb. 26, the contractor plans to close K-39 and begin demolition on the bridges, conditions permitting.

Access to both junctions of K-3/K-39 between the two bridges will remain open throughout construction. The detour route around construction for both bridges is, for eastbound traffic: from the west U.S.59/K-39 junction travel south on U.S.59 to K-146, then east on K-146 to K-3, then south of K-3 to K-47, then east on K-47 to K-7 at Girard, and north on K-7 to the K-7/K-39 junction. Westbound K-39 traffic should take the same route in the opposite direction.

Both existing steel girder bridges will be replaced with concrete bridges. Construction of each bridge will also involve drilled shafts into the rock strata. KDOT awarded the construction contract of approximately $2 million to King Construction Company, Hesston. Barring any unforeseen delays, KDOT expects both new bridges to be open to traffic by the end of November 2014. Pavement marking and final seeding of the project may need to be completed in 2015 owing to weather limitations.

Persons with questions concerning the project may contact KDOT Iola Area Construction Manager Dayna Barlow at (620) 365-2161 or KDOT Southeast Kansas Public Affairs Manager Priscilla Petersen at 1-877-550-5368. The project is funded under the T-WORKS transportation program. For additional information concerning T-WORKS visit the website, www.ksdot.org/tworks.