Good news is coming for drivers who have had their travels altered by bridge work on Kansas Highway 99 north of Emporia the past several months.
Burns & McDonnell, representing the Kansas Department of Transportation, says the plan is to open K-99 at a pair of bridges no later than Oct. 20. The goal is also to open the rest of the highway under detour since April by Oct. 30.
The Kansas Turnpike Authority has been raising bridges over the Turnpike six and 13 miles northeast of Emporia, with a massive detour attached. Drivers moving north through Emporia have had to leave K-99, or Merchant Street, at Interstate 35, go west to the Turnpike, then travel northeast to the Admire-Council Grove exit and take US Highway 56 west four miles to reconnect to K-99.
The project has also included increasing the clearance height and improving guardrails, bridge piers and slopes.
