Nearly a year into the project, work is about a month away from entering the final phase of expanding US Highway 50 just west of Emporia.
The work zone is relatively short — Road F west to E-5 — but Kansas Department of Transportation engineering specialist Dustin Hardin there has been a lot of work involved.
Bridge work is done and most of the work on the eastbound lanes is also completed. Hardin says the third phase involves replacing the concrete in the middle of the highway before adding the westbound lane in the final phase.
KDOT is widening the highway from two lanes to four between Roads F and E-5. The widening project was originally slated to take place back in 2011 as part of the 10-year, $8 billion TWORKS program under Sam Brownback’s administration. TWORKS has since been replaced by the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program (IKE) formerly known as FORWARD.
