K-23 Bridge Replacement Resumes

Work has resumed on a bridge replacement project on K-23 in southern Meade County. The new bridge was completed last fall and road crews are preparing to connect the existing highway to the new bridge.

The Kansas Department of Transportation expects the tie-in portion of the project to begin the week of March 5. During this work there will be a lane width restriction of 10.5 feet on K-23, from the K-23/US-64 junction in Oklahoma to the K-23/US-54 junction in Meade. Wider loads will need to find an alternate route. There will also be times when paving work will require limiting traffic to one lane. A pilot car will guide motorists through the work zone, when necessary.

Finishing the paving and re-routing the traffic onto the new alignment should take less than two weeks, weather permitting. Once traffic is routed onto the new alignment, the old bridge, originally built in 1965, will be demolished.

Bridges, Inc., of Newton, is the primary contractor for this T-WORKS preservation project at a cost of just under four million dollars.

If you have questions regarding this project, you may call Chuck Oldaker, Ulysses Area Engineer, at 620-356-1531, or Kirk Hutchinson, Southwest District Public Affairs Manager, toll free, at 1-877-550-KDOT (5368). To learn more about T-WORKS, you can log onto www.ksdot.org/tworks .