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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Monday, October 06, 2008 11:37 AM

U.S. 59: Landscape offers unique challenges

By JENALEA MYERS, Herald Staff Writer

Issues with the natural landscape created problems during the initial planning of the new U.S. 59.

A material known as Lawrence Shale was one challenge that affected the proposed alignment of the new highway.

In Douglas County, the new alignment has to contend with traversing the Pleasant Grove hill, about four miles south of Lawrence, an official from the Kansas Department of Transportation said. The highway has a steep ascent up the hill and even steeper side slopes cut into the hill.

“Our first alignment for the proposed relocated highway moved the highway to the east side of the hill, where it would have traversed along the hill’s east face,” Howard Lubliner, KDOT road designer, said. “Thanks to our geology investigation and experience with the current highway, it was determined that material in the Pleasant Grove hill, especially Lawrence Shale, is prone to slide failures and landslides when exposed.”

Since the new highway was proposed to cut into the side of the hill and expose a large amount of this unstable shale, it was determined that an alignment along the east side of the hill was undesirable, Lubliner said. A preferable solution was to align the highway so it goes directly through the center of the hill, as opposed to along either of its sides.

Lubliner said similar shale materials exist in Franklin County, but there are no large cuts needed in the land or significant hillsides that would present similar design challenges.

Construction currently in Franklin County includes project structures: bridges, concrete boxes and pipe installation, grading the new highway and grading and surfacing the side roads and frontage roads that provide local access.

Construction of the concrete boxes and pipe installations occur first because they are eventually buried by the new highway embankment, Lubliner said. Next, road embankments are built up in the areas where bridges will be installed to allow for their construction.

“To complete this work, a large volume of dirt needs to be brought into the project,” he said. “This dirt is often purchased from adjacent landowners, which is why the area has many more ponds than it did before the project.”

Next, the bridges are constructed. Cuts in the land for the roadway and fills between the bridges are completed. As a final step, the contractor will compact the top layer of dirt to provide an appropriate base for the future pavement and the dirt fills will be seeded to prevent erosion, he said.

Paving of the mainline highway in Franklin County will occur with a project being let this fall. During construction of the mainline highway, similar work, although of a smaller scale, is being performed concurrently on the side roads and frontage roads that provide local access, Lubliner said.

Herald staff writer Jenalea Myers can be e-mailed at jmyers@ottawaherald.com.

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U.S. 59: Landscape offers unique challenges

By JENALEA MYERS, Herald Staff Writer

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.