6th Street Reconstruction Hits 50% Completion
Original Post | August 16, 2024
City of Osawatomie officials announced that 6th Street has entered the next phase of its reconstruction plan. The southbound lane between Brown Avenue and Kelly Avenue, which has been closed since early spring, is now open to motorists heading south along the corridor. Lead contractor Killough Construction has moved signage and equipment to the northbound lane in preparation for the next round of construction. All traffic on 6th Street will remain one-way, driving on the new concrete portion of the southbound lane, while contractors begin the demolition and reconstruction of the northbound lane. The west side of the Pacific Avenue intersection will be open for any traffic turning south and the Brown Avenue intersection will remain fully open until the Pacific Ave intersection is completed, which is expected to take three to four weeks.
These milestones have officially pushed the 6th Street project to the 50% completion mark and officials are looking forward to continued progress.
The project is on schedule for completion by the mid-January deadline stipulated by the $1.5 million KDOT Cost Share grant award that is helping fund the project, which has an original contract price of $6.3 million.
Much of the work to this point has been underground. Killough has been busy with massive stormwater improvements to mitigate chronic flooding issues along the street, and other utilities have been relocated from under the road to within the public right-of-way. A new water main has been installed and neighborhood service tie-ins to the new line have been completed. City of Osawatomie electric teams have been working on electric improvements including preparing for the installation of new decorative street lights to match the improvements along Main Street. As these utility improvements were completed and as crews advanced north, road construction was able to begin on the southern portion of the street. More surface-level construction will happen over the next few months now that the majority of the underground improvements have been completed.
For a full depth reconstruction, all previous layers of road are removed including the original road bed or foundation. The grade is corrected for better stormwater flow and a new base is formed before the road's internal structure is rebuilt layer by layer. A final layer of concrete is poured to create the road surface and requires at least 10 days to fully cure. Variables, like rainy weather, can delay concrete or prolong its cure time. For 6th Street, this process is happening one lane at a time to allow one-way traffic through the corridor and maintain as much residential and business access as possible. Now that this section of concrete has passed its final inspections, construction will switch to the other side of the road and begin the process over again for the northbound lane. Once this segment of 6th Street has been completed, crews will advance to the next segment and the process begins again.
Motorists should be careful when driving through the construction zone, as there is a roughly 16" difference between the lane heights. Please obey traffic signs and keep speed to the posted 15mph.
For more information on 6th Street, please visit the project page here: osawatomieks.org/6th-street.
If you have questions or concerns, please contact:
Michele Silsbee
Deputy City Manager
(913) 755-2146 x 231
[email protected]