Highway construction project to redesign Missouri 152 and I-35 interchange in Liberty
As spring fast approaches, so does road construction season in the Kansas City metro area.
Later this week, prep work will get underway for a major redesign of the Missouri 152 and Interstate 35 interchange in Liberty.
The $26.2 million project will have significant impact this summer on traffic through the area, which connects residents to retail centers in both Liberty and Kansas City, North.
Depending on their route of travel, drivers could face detours ranging from 3 to 12 miles, adding as much as 16 minutes to their travel time.
“The Route 152 bridge really needs to be replaced — it’s reached the end of its life expectancy,” said Markl Johnson, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation in Kansas City.
“That area is really booming with retail shops and other development and because of that, it’s becoming a real bottleneck,” Johnson said.
“Route 152 is a connector for a lot of folks, including those headed to elementary, middle and high schools.”
But before work on the project gets into full swing in May, preparation work needs to be completed, including the placement of concrete barriers and traffic control signs.
Beginning at 8 p.m. Friday, crews will reduce northbound I-35 to one lane between Pleasant Valley Road and the Missouri 291 Interchange to reconstruct the inside shoulder. All lanes of the highway will reopen by 5 p.m. Sunday.
Crews also will reduce southbound I-35 in that same area to one lane for inside shoulder work. All southbound lanes should reopen by 5 a.m. Sunday.
The major redesign of the interchange is an effort to improve traffic safety and accommodate the booming retail development in the area.
Plans call for demolishing the existing bridge and replacing it with what is basically a half diverging diamond interchange. It should take about four months to build the new bridge. Johnson said bridges usually take longer to build.
During construction, eastbound Missouri 152 traffic in the immediate area will detour south on I-35 to the U.S. 69/Vivion Road exit and then back north on I-35 to the Missouri 152 exit.
Eastbound Missouri 152 traffic west of Interstate 435 will detour north on I-435 to Missouri 291 and then south to Kansas Street.
Westbound Kansas Street/Missouri 152 traffic in the immediate area will detour north on I-35 to Missouri 291 and then back south on I-35 to the Missouri 152 exit.
Traffic on, or east of, Missouri 291 will detour north on Missouri 291 and then south on I-35 to the Missouri 152 exit.
Transportation officials want to have the bridge completed around the time school starts in the fall so that the project doesn’t interrupt people’s trips to schools, he added.
Once completed, there will be a total of 11 lanes for traffic on the interchange. Most of the lanes will handle the east and west traffic flow, as well as the traffic exiting from northbound I-35 or headed onto southbound I-35.
There will be a total of three lanes that will handle traffic exiting from southbound I-35 onto eastbound Missouri 152/Kansas Street and eastbound Missouri onto northbound I-35.
The project also includes improvements to Kansas Street and Missouri 291 by widening the street and adding turn lanes.
The project will address bicycle and pedestrian needs along the corridor by including a multiple-use path along the south side of Missouri 152 and Kansas Street that will extend across the bridge.
The project officially gets underway in May. While the new bridge will be built in four months, the entire project isn’t expected to be completed until the end of August 2020.
