Selecting detours for construction/maintenance projects

By Deb Gruver, District Five Public Affairs Manager

Flaggers and pilot cars handle most of the traffic during KDOT projects. But occasionally, a detour is necessary.

KDOT typically routes traffic to state highways when detours occur. That’s because those roads are usually the least expensive to sign and maintain.

Above shows a detour map for a project to replace the West Madison Avenue bridge over the
Arkansas River in Arkansas City.

“We know the condition of the highways and the standards they’re designed to,” said State Traffic Signing Engineer Eric Nichol.

Detour selection and design for construction projects on the state highway system is based on cost-effectiveness, maintenance considerations and impact to the traveling public.

Officially detouring traffic to local roads can be expensive, Nichol said. Local roads might not be able to withstand the additional traffic, especially truck traffic, and damage may occur. Several factors influence the selection of local road detours including, pavement condition, roadway safety features, roadway geometrics, length of detour and the number of vehicles involved.  

If a local road detour is selected, KDOT will enter an agreement with a county or city to allow traffic to detour on local roads. But most detours occur on state roads, Nichol said.

If detours are not feasible, KDOT also might build a “shoo-fly,” a temporary road adjacent to the construction site, or build the project half at a time to avoid a detour.

The state alerts the traveling public about detours and installs signage to guide drivers.