The Watchdog | Drivers experience deja vu on K-10 bridge

The problem

A couple of Johnson County residents, Brad Dick and Eric Neuer, wonder about the seemingly constant construction on the Kansas 10 bridge across the railroad tracks near Woodland Avenue.

“I watched this same bridge be repaired two years ago and now the crews just finished what appears to be the same work, removing and replacing patches of concrete in the bridge. Either the original work was defective (which it didn’t appear to be) or someone is just digging holes and filling them up,” said Dick, who lives in Lenexa.

Neuer, of Olathe, thinks this goes beyond slow construction. “It seems they foul up traffic on the same bridge every year.”

The answer

This certainly isn’t a case of digging holes and filling them for fun.

Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kim Qualls said an emergency expansion joint repair was done last year in just one spot where the need was critical.

Crews returned this year for more comprehensive work, including joint replacement, patching and overlay. That project was completed in mid-November.

The two bridges were built in 1980, Qualls said, and repairs of some kind were done on the eastbound lanes in 2000, 2008 and 2010. The westbound lanes were repaired in 2000, 2011 and 2012.

The Watchdog says all this talk about joints gets him thinking about a move to Colorado.