Reopening of 63rd Street through Mission Hills delayed

Construction delays on a bridge in Mission Hills have pushed back the opening of a heavily traveled stretch of 63rd Street until at least the holiday season.

A section of 63rd Street that runs through Mission Hills between about State Line Road and Mission Road has been closed since January for a bridge rebuilding and road repair and resurfacing project. The bridge goes over Brush Creek at 63rd Street near Indian Lane.

The key east-west thoroughfare in northeast Johnson County had been scheduled to reopen by Tuesday .

Now it’s hoped the road will be opened by the holidays, said Mission Hills Mayor Richard Boeshaar in a letter last month to city residents.

“Our undoing came from the bridge’s engineers,” Boeshaar said.

“A well-respected company that is known for its bridge engineering has, so far, made six changes since the project started — the most recent one causing the construction crew to wait for re-designed structural pieces,” causing the project to go beyond its Nov.1 promised completion date, Boeshaar said.

The mayor said “several weeks of contingency days” had been built into the project. “Every detail was attended to, and, we thought, every contingency considered,” Boeshaar said. “The best laid plans...”

City staff, Mission Hills elected officials and the contractors are working to get the project completed by the holiday season, Boeshaar said. “Please know that we have done and will continue to do the best we can to provide a safe, new roadway — one that will last a long time before this kind of significant repair will have to be done again,” the mayor said.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Reopening of 63rd Street through Mission Hills delayed."