Nearly 20 years later, new four-lane highway will complete loop around Lawrence

Nearly 20 years in the making and almost three years after the beginning of construction, Kansas transportation officials will celebrate the completion of a long-awaited highway project.

The Kansas Department of Transportation will host two public events Friday to celebrate the opening of the east leg of the Kansas 10 South Lawrence Trafficway.

The 6-mile stretch of four-lane highway will complete a loop around Lawrence. It links Kansas 10 on the east side of the city to a portion of the highway that opened on the city’s west side in 1998.

Construction on the east leg began in November 2013.

KDOT will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday on the east end of the new highway.

From noon to 1:30 p.m., the agency will host a public walk-bike event through a half-mile section of the scenic wetlands located just west of the Haskell Avenue interchange. The wetlands are adjacent to the highway.

The road will open to the public prior to Thanksgiving, KDOT officials said.

The project is expected to give Kansas City drivers a new shortcut from southern parts of the area to Interstate 70 west of Lawrence. The bypass will also help ease congestion on clogged streets in Lawrence.

In case of inclement weather, the ribbon-cutting event will move to the KDOT Lawrence Sub-area Office at 3775 S.E. 25th St. in Lawrence, but the walk-bike event would be canceled, KDOT officials said.