Starting tomorrow, March 8, two more side road intersections with U.S. 69 Hwy. will be closed for reconstruction south of Fort Scott.

This is part of the expanding to four-lanes project of the  national highway in Bourbon County.

On Friday, weather permitting, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) plans to close the Fern Road and Deer Road intersections on the west side of the U.S. 69. The two intersections will be reconstructed during the month-long closures, according to Priscilla Petersen, Public Affairs Manager for the Southeast District Office of the Kansas Department of Transportation.

Birch Road won’t be reopened until late May 2019, Petersen said. “The U.S. 69 southbound lanes are closed beyond the Birch Road intersection, and the placement of traffic control devices plus the temporary crossover between the new and existing lanes creates line-of-sight and visibility issues for drivers.”

“The Bourbon County U.S. 69 expansion project should be open to four-lane unrestricted traffic by late May or early June, conditions permitting,” Petersen said.

Next in line for expansion is the 11 miles in Crawford County of Hwy. 69.

“The U.S. 69 expansion projects in Crawford County are the six-mile Arma Connection Expressway and the five-mile Crawford County expansion,” Petersen said. “The Arma Connection is tentatively scheduled to be let in the fall of 2019, with construction starting in the winter of 2019 or early in 2020. The Crawford County Expansion is tentatively scheduled to let in the fall of 2020, with construction beginning in winter 2020 or early in 2021. Both projects would likely cover two construction seasons.”

Koss Construction of Topeka is the primary contractor on the U.S. 69 project, which has a construction cost of $21.8 million. Persons with questions may contact Darrin Petrowsky at KDOT-Iola, (620) 365-2161, or Priscilla Petersen at KDOT-Chanute, (620) 902-6433.