The Green Project – The First Step in Fixing Wichita’s North Junction, one of several projects approved

The North Junction in Wichita is a burden for some commuters, commercial delivery services, truckers and other Sedgwick County drivers. It is a pinch point that some avoid and some just suffer through, especially in the morning and late afternoon drive-times.

Four highways come together: I-135, I-235, K-96 and K-254 – and for some travelers, depending on the time of day, it is an annoyance that most would rather do without.

The first step to fixing the North Junction bottlenecks will soon begin. Earlier this month, three bids were opened for the I-235 Green Project in Wichita. Bergkamp King, A Joint Venture, LLC was the low bidder at $51,337.971.52 and the planned date for that start is March 11.

The I-235 Green Project is just the first phase of the Wichita North Junction fix. It will replace aging pavement, the structurally deficient bridges over the Little Arkansas River and the functionally obsolete bridges over Arkansas Avenue and Broadway. It also adds auxiliary lanes to I-235 and improves ramp geometry at the Broadway interchange.

Awarding the Green Project to a contractor is a big step in the life of the interchange reconstruction project. With the near-completion of the I-235 and U.S. 54 interchange project, the North Junction rebuild has advanced to a priority highway concern for the Wichita/Sedgwick County community. To further the rebuilding process and encourage the continuation of projects that will address the North Junction bottlenecks, Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita have teamed up to help finance right-of-way acquisitions for the next phase. They produced a video to share their support for this multi-phase project.

See the video at Wichita North Junction Video.

Find out more about the I-235 Green Project at Green Project Fact Sheet.

See all the phases of the North Junction reconstruction at North Junction Fact Sheet.

This is one of several projects approved in the January Letting. For the rest of the project list click here:

Fourth-graders help KDOT celebrate Kansas Day!

In a pre-celebration of Kansas Day, last Friday, 17 Chanute fourth-graders arrived at the southeast District KDOT office bearing unique gifts. 

These creative students from Chanute shared what they loved about Kansas with KDOT crews in southeast Kansas last Friday. 

Each student had crafted a small collage of photos showing what he or she loved most about Kansas, ranging from animals to sunflowers to EVERYTHING!

Chanute fourth-graders help raise a new state flag at the southeast Kansas District Office 

The clever collages are now displayed in the office window. During the visit the kids also gathered at the front flagpole to switch out the weather-worn official Kansas State Flag with a new state flag. Assisted by district staff, they toured a dump truck and then posed in the parking lot appropriately outfitted with safety vests, hard hats and sign paddles.

Chanute fourth-graders toured the southeast Kansas District Office and wore safety vests while holding up signs frequently used in the job. 

 Although outdoor conditions were chilly, the field trip to KDOT ended on a warm note. Class members returned to the office lobby for juice, cookies and goody bags containing Kansas highway maps before boarding the bus back to school.

Be aware of the no-zone: Share the road with semi trucks

Semi-trucks have become a daily presence on our nation’s roadways. We’re on the road with them on our commutes and vacations, we see them on work-related trips and briefer jaunts through the city. But how good is the passenger vehicle crowd at sharing the state highway or interstate with the big rigs that haul our goods?

There’s always room for improvement, here are a few tips from the professional driver’s point of view.

All trucks have ‘no zones’ on the sides and directly in front and back where another vehicle cannot be seen. A smaller vehicle lingering in the passing lane beside a semi is in a risky position and needs to pass as swiftly as possible. Did you know that a truck driver can see almost nothing on the right side of his/her vehicle? DO NOT PASS A SEMI ON THE RIGHT.

If you’ve just passed a semi don’t slow down - keep moving ahead. And if you prefer to remain behind the truck, don’t tailgate in the no-zone. Give the semi driver room to see you and enough space to maneuver.

When merging onto a highway or interstate, it’s usually best to pull in behind the semi. After building up to the appropriate speed, semi drivers can’t slow down quickly. Plus, if a smaller vehicle zips in front, it probably won’t be visible to the semi driver. Unless there is a large space between you and the front of the truck, merge behind and wait until it’s safe to pass.

Don’t brake suddenly in the blind spot in front of the truck. The stopping distance for a fully loaded tractor-trailer going 60 mph on dry pavement is approximately 335 feet, just over the length of a football field. Consider the reasonable stopping distance between your vehicle and the truck before starting to brake.

Is a semi stopped by the side of the road? If possible, move over just as you would for stopped emergency and law enforcement vehicles.

Normal passenger vehicle folks, what are you doing out there? Are you focusing on driving? Or are you texting, shaving, putting on your make-up, having an animated phone chat with your BFF or reading the latest best-selling novel? (Trust us — crazy driving behaviors exist.) Some of these behaviors are annoying and they are all dangerous. So be safe. Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the roadway.

Professional drivers are partners on the road. They work long hours driving and they also must scope out designated parking spots, so they can pull in and sleep. Like us, they want to do their jobs well and return home safely to their families.

Thanks to all professional drivers, who boost our economy as they transport the products upon which we depend every day.

Beet juice offers alternative solution to snow fighting

By Lisa Mussman
Public Affairs Manager for northwest Kansas

For decades, KDOT has used a combination of sand, salt and salt brine as part of their snow fighting efforts, but crews in parts of northwest Kansas have added a new tool to their arsenal in recent years: Beet juice.

Beet juice is an agricultural by-product from the process to make goods such as table sugar and cattle feed. As a standalone product, beet juice has little to no melting properties, but when mixed with salt brine, it will help the brine continue to work at lower temperatures to treat icy and snow-packed surfaces. Regular salt brine begins to lose effectiveness at around 15 degrees Fahrenheit. When beet juice is added, the freezing point can be lowered by another 15 to 20 degrees.

Colby Subarea Supervisor Brad Reeh says his crew has been using the product for about five years and has had success with it.

“We have been mixing it at a 10 percent ratio with brine and only using it when the temps are going to be below 15 degrees.” Reeh said. “When combining it with brine and salt and sand, it seems to stick to the snow-pack better and keep the product working on the road longer.”

That stickiness and staying power is important in allowing KDOT crews more time to work on other routes if needed. But don’t expect to see the roads turning red or purple. The solution is actually brown in color and can be easily washed off vehicles.

While beet juice is still relatively new to Kansas, it has been used in the Northeast and Upper Midwest since the early 2000's. It is among a handful of alternative products including molasses, beer waste, pickle brine and cheese brine that other departments of transportation are experimenting with to reduce salt usage.

After the storm: Crews repair damage to signs

It’s no surprise that when snow moves in, KDOT crews get to work.  But have you ever wondered what happens after the storm hits?  Believe it or not, it can be busier after the roads are clear, especially following blizzard conditions or ice.

Following a snow event, subarea crews must get equipment to the shop for maintenance and repairs as all that ice, snow, sand and salt are hard on the trucks and spreaders.  In addition, the same crews are tasked with inventorying sand, salt and brine and restocking depleted inventories.  They are also the same crews that are out after the storm repairing signs, filling potholes and repairing guardrails that are damaged during the event. 

KDOT Garden City Subarea crew members repair a sign after the Dec. 27 blizzard. 

For example, following the Dec. 27 blizzard, which blew in with 50 mph winds and dumped up to 8-12 inches of snow across western Kansas, crews were back out in the cold and snow repairing a sign on U.S. 50 west of Garden City. A casualty of the storm, this sign had already been repaired two weeks earlier, but was damaged when a motorist slid across the ramp hitting the sign according to Hector Terrones, the Highway Maintenance Supervisor for the Garden City Subarea.

“Digging post holes in frozen ground isn't easy.  But we needed to get the sign back up, so we made it work by using a blowtorch to thaw the ground,” said Terrones.

Terrones and Equipment Operator Jesse Casanova, raised the post and positioned it. Finally, Equipment Operator Ciro Chavez, attached the sign to the post while Hector and Jesse adjusted the post to straighten the sign.

It is thanks to KDOT crews, who brave the snow and the cold, that Kansans can continue to travel our state’s highways.

Governor appoints Lorenz to lead KDOT

Julie Lorenz was appointed by Gov. Laura Kelly to lead KDOT as Interim Secretary of Transportation.

Gov. Laura Kelly has appointed Julie Lorenz to lead the Kansas Department of Transportation as Interim Secretary. She succeeds Richard Carlson, who retired on Jan. 11.

While new to this position, this is her second tour of duty for KDOT, serving as the Director of Public Affairs and Special Assistant from 2003 to 2011. During that time, Lorenz led the development of several efforts at the agency, including the development and eventual legislative passage of the $8.2 billion, 10-year T-WORKS funding program in spring 2010.

“I am honored to be back at KDOT,” Lorenz said. “I’m excited to help develop new opportunities to expand our transportation investments across the state while also working to maintain the existing system. Transportation is a part of everyone’s lives and the work KDOT does is critical to our state.”

Lorenz comes from Burns & McDonnell where she was a Principal specializing in strategic business consulting and planning and policy development for the transportation industry at the national, regional and local levels.

ITS Heartland wins NOCoE award at Transportation Research Board Meeting in Washgington D.C.

By Tom Hein, Public Affairs Manager for Sedgwick County

At the 98^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington D.C. this week, the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) presented the ITS Heartland chapter with an award in the category of Improving Agency TSMO Capabilities. TSMO is a Federal Highway Administration toolbox for Transportation Systems Management and Operations.

According to the ITS Heartland’s website, TSMO focuses on actively managing the multi-modal transportation network to deliver improved safety and mobility outcomes. Its philosophy is managing our valuable transportation system in a way that preserves what we have already built by using investments wisely on projects that improve operations.

 

Presenting the award is NOCoE managing director Patrick Son (left) and accepting is Randy Johnson, KC Scout manager and ITS Heartland president, Tom Hein, WICHway manager and project administrator, and consultant project manager Matt Volz.

Kansas DOT is the lead state for the ITS Heartland project. The chapter is a five-state Intelligent Transportation Systems coalition that also includes Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma DOTs, transportation industry consultants and product suppliers.

ITS Heartland’s mission is to improve the quality of life for those transportation uses who live and invest in America’s Heartland, though advanced transportation technologies and communications.

 

The TSMO University Education program created a series of archived webinars and live training sessions. 

The winning project was the ITS Heartland TSMO University Education Program, which created a series of archived webinars and hosted live training sessions on traffic incident management, highlights intelligent transportation technologies that increase roadway safety and improve traffic information sharing. The webinars encourage cross-jurisdictional agency cooperation and provide continuing traffic operations and management outreach to transportation administrators, planners, designers, maintenance crews, first responders and other transportation professionals.

NOCoE received more than 60 entries in four award categories. Other winners were the Arizona DOT for best TSMO project, North Carolina DOT for their response to a major incident or special event (Hurricane Florence), and in the public communication category, Oregon Traffic Incident Management responders for their use of social media.

For more information visit the NOCoE website at www.transportationops.org.

Learn more about the ITS Heartland TSMO program at www.itsheartland.org/tsmo-trainings/.