 |
| View of KDOT traffic control set up Monday morning at Santa Fe Lake Road, on the east end of a U.S. 54/400 closure caused by tornado damage. |
By Tim Potter
KDOT District Five crews began
around-the-clock work on U.S. 54/400 after a tornado caused major damage in the
Andover area Friday night.
Area Five Maintenance
Superintendent David Lechner recalled what he saw just after daylight Saturday
where the tornado tore across the highway through Andover: “just a big field of
debris as it went across 400 and took out the high lines on the north side of
the road.”
For a time, all lanes of the
highway were closed so KDOT could clean the highway and utility workers could
do repairs.
Closer to the west end of the
closure, Area Five crew members manned the Yorktown intersection at the highway
since 1 a.m. Saturday. That is close to where a YMCA sustained severe damage.
On the east end of the
approximately 6-mile-long closure, Area Two crew members directed by
Maintenance Superintendent Tom McCartney had barricades up at Santa Fe Lake
Road and were diverting traffic to the
north. Area Two workers cleaned up the highway with a power broom and loader.
On Saturday, KDOT set up a
portable message board on westbound U.S. 54 at the closure and one at 21st
Street North to help drivers follow a detour. Later Saturday, KDOT placed a
message board at Leon, farther east in Butler County, to alert drivers to the
westbound closure.
“I just appreciated our people
being out there around the clock,” said District Five Engineer Brent Terstriep.
KDOT announced Saturday that
eastbound lanes had been reopened. Westbound lanes remained closed over the
weekend so utility crews could continue repairing power lines. As the work
progressed, KDOT reopened one of the westbound lanes Monday morning.
