Travelers to Pittsburg and south will see progress on the expansion of U.S, 69 Hwy. starting Monday, March 2.
Expanding the highway from two-lane to four-lane has been on-going for about three years in Southeast Kansas.
This is the first project slated for U.S. Hwy. 69 to begin in 2020.
When the press release was published yesterday, questions arose on the FortScott.Biz Facebook page about the remaining sections of 69 Hwy. being completed.
Here are the answers from the Kansas Department of Transportation:
Second Project 2021-2022
A second project for the remaining section is scheduled to start in the spring of next year, according to officials.
“Work on both projects will be occurring at the same time,” Priscilla Petersen with the Kansas Department of Transportation said. “With a fall letting, construction on the northern project will likely start in the spring of 2021. We’ll have more information available on the second project later this year.”
The second project will have bid letting this fall.
“KDOT will let a second project this autumn to expand the remaining miles on U.S. 69 in Crawford County to four lanes,” Peterson said. “The second project will start three miles north of Arma and end at the Crawford-Bourbon county line.”
” These two Crawford County projects, when finished, will make U.S. 69 a four-lane expressway from Kansas City south to Pittsburg, * Peterson said.
There are currently no projects scheduled to expand U.S. 69 south of Pittsburg, she said.
2020- 21 Project
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) plans to start the project, which will expand a six-mile section of U.S. 69 in Crawford County to a four-lane divided expressway, during the week of March 2, according to a KDOT press release dated Feb. 27.
The expansion project begins north of the U.S. 69/K-47 junction and continues north to end three miles north of the Arma city limits. Two lanes will be added to the existing U.S. 69 alignment.
Two-way traffic is being maintained on the existing lanes of U.S. 69 while the new lanes are under construction. Traffic will be switched to the new lanes when the existing lanes are rebuilt. Early project activity includes grading and work on box culverts off the highway.
KDOT awarded the $21.8 million construction contract to Koss Construction Co. of Topeka. According to the project schedule, the new expressway will be open to unrestricted traffic by mid-August 2021.
Persons with questions may contact Bob Gudgen at KDOT-Pittsburg, (620) 308-7621, or Priscilla Petersen at KDOT-Chanute, (620) 902-6433.
