A construction crew of up to 10 men a day has been working on a section of U.S. Hwy. 69 that snakes through Fort Scott since April 2016.
“Hopefully, (the project) will be completed in the next two weeks,” Bob Vipt, superintendent for Laforge and Budd Construction, Parsons, said Tuesday.
The highway improvement project extends from the driveway of Extrusions Inc. north to Briggs Fort Scott on South Main Street, he said.
The crew has added a turning lane at the intersection of National and U.S. Hwy. 69 and also at 23rd Street and U.S.Hwy.69
“I think these were congested intersections at times,” Vipt said.
Also included in the construction project paid for with federal, state and city funds are:
- two new stop lights
- new storm drains on the east and replaced storm drains on the west side
- new curb and guttering
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New curb, guttering and storm drains recently installed on U.S. Hwy. 69, also known as South Main Street in Fort Scott. - new sidewalks
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A new sidewalk lines the west side of U.S. Hwy. 69/South Main Street in Fort Scott. - new asphalt surface
- new striping down the middle
- new landscape sod
To be completed are the new surface with roadway striping and also placing sod along both sides of U.S.Hwy. 69 adjacent to the project.
Laforge and Budd Construction is the general contractor, RFB Construction, Pittsburg, is a subcontractor on the project.
Highway expansion south of Fort Scott
Construction crews are also busy expanding a six-mile section of U.S. Hwy. 69 south of Fort Scott and north of Arma.
The section is being upgraded to an expressway, which is a four-lane highway but with access points.
This project was started in March 2017 and is scheduled for completion in November 2018, according to Priscilla Peterson, a Kansas Department of Transportation Public Affairs Manager.
