Road construction is about to ramp up significantly in Manhattan over the next several weeks.

As work continues on raising the levee on the city’s east side, City Manager Ron Fehr says interruptions will begin near the intersection of Hayes Drive and Casement Road.

      0308-Fehr 1

Storm sewer construction and related levee work is underway nearby. The intersection is actually part of the levee. Fehr says most of the work will occur on the Hayes Drive leg, with a dike that will go up and a sandbag gap that he says will be filled.  All commercial properties on Hayes Drive will maintain access from the south, via McCall Road, but residents living just north of that intersection will have no access to Hayes, and instead will be detoured onto Tuttle Creek Blvd.

      0308-Fehr 4

That project is slated to begin the week of March 20, which is also when work begins on a new signalized intersection at US 24 and Levee Drive, to accommodate truck traffic at the recently completed Manhattan Joint Maintenance Facility.

      0308-Fehr 5

The city is also planning to close the downtown parking garage over Spring Break.

      0308-Fehr 3

Later in the spring, the city will begin work to replace and move the roundabout at Kimball and Grand Mere Parkway. That will require a closure of Kimball Ave. there from May 15 through Aug. 15, according to Fehr as they work to utilize the summer months and less student traffic. The entire project won’t be completed until sometime in 2024.

The city is also planning to make repairs over the summer on Browning Ave. in front of Anthony Middle School. That area is being targeted this year ahead of future KDOT projects at Tuttle Creek Blvd at both the Seth Child and Dam Road intersections, which will commence in either 2024 or 2025. In both instances, roundabouts will be constructed in an effort to make that corridor safer.