The 69 Hwy. expansion project from Fort Scott to Arma doesn’t have a November completion date anymore, according to Priscilla Petersen, with the Kansas Department of Transportation.

In an interview, Petersen said the November completion date of the U.S. 69 expansion has been pushed back.

“We plan to have this project open to four-lane unrestricted traffic by Dec. 21, 2018,” she said. All work on the active U.S. 69 expansion in Bourbon County will be completed in April 2019. ” “The active Bourbon County expansion project is approximately six miles long, starting south of Fort Scott and ending at the Bourbon-Crawford county line,” Peterson said. “The Crawford County expansion project has not been let. The tentative letting date is the fall of 2020.”

It seems KDOT ran into more extensive excavation of the stretch of highway than originally thought.

“During the grading phase of the expansion our contractor encountered a lengthy section of the old highway that had not been previously removed,” Petersen said. “The removal of the old mainline and bridges required extensive excavation. In addition, the discovery of the old roadway greatly reduced the amount of dirt available for the earthwork. We found it necessary to add a second borrow-waste area to supply the material.”

“Current project activity includes concrete paving on the mainline and guardrail installation on the bridges,” Petersen said.