Bridge at one of Johnson County’s most dangerous intersections closes for 90 days
The bridge that carries 119th Street over Interstate 35 in Olathe closed Tuesday morning so crews can reconfigure the interchange to address high accident rates and congestion on the bridge, the city announced on Twitter.
The bridge will be closed for 90 days, restricting left-turn access on and off the interstate, city officials said. Drivers, however, will be able to turn right on and off the interstate at 119th.
The closure is the latest phase of a $25 million project in northeast Olathe where traffic volume is among the highest in Kansas.
Because of growth in the area, traffic routinely backs up onto I-35 during peak morning and afternoon periods. The crash rate is 11 times the national average for comparable interchanges, the city said.
The city and Kansas Department of Transportation will replace the current interchange with a diverging-diamond interchange, where traffic is routed to opposite sides of the road, allowing drivers to turn left without stopping at another light or turning in front of traffic.
Once completed, the interchange will be similar to interchanges at 95th Street and I-35 in Lenexa and on Roe Avenue at Interstate 435 in Overland Park, among other places.
While the bridge is closed, traffic on 119th Street will detoured around the construction.
Westbound traffic will detour to Strang Line Road, to Mur-Len Road, west on 127th Street to Ridgeview Road and then back up to 119th.
Eastbound traffic will detour north on Renner Boulevard, to eastbound Kansas 10, to eastbound I-435, then south on Quivira Road to 119th Street.
About 120,000 vehicles travel through that portion of I-35 each day with more than 30,000 traveling on 119th Street and Strang Line Road, just east of the highway.
The closure was originally scheduled for no earlier than July 1st. Officials, however, closed the bridge a month early so they could shift construction phases after concerns arose that delays in the delivery of steel would push the overall project’s completion date into next year.
This story was originally published June 1, 2021 at 10:22 AM.
