Emporia’s Interstate 35 bridge over Lincoln Street is set to be replaced.
The Kansas Department of Transportation approved a better than $4.3 million bid from King Construction and Subsidiaries out of Hesston for the project.
Emporia City Engineer Jim Ubert says this is almost totally a state project, although city leaders were kept in the loop — especially for pedestrian access via sidewalks. Once work begins this upcoming spring, Ubert advises residents to pack their patience because detours will be needed there — and also once the 24th and Prairie waterline replacement project begins later in the year.
Ubert says the “tunnel effect” will disappear with the new span bridge that’s planned for Lincoln Street, similar but not identical to what is currently in place for the I-35 bridge over Burlingame Road. He says there will be much better visibility for all vantage points once the bridge is replaced by the middle of next year.
Separately, KDOT also approved a bridge replacement in Greenwood County on US Highway 54 over Homer Creek, about four miles east of the eastern junction between US-54 and Kansas Highway 99. Bridges Inc of Newton won the project with a nearly $3.8 million bid.
