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.
No comments:
Post a Comment