By KAREN BONAR

Ellsworth County I-R

With summer winding down, so are road construction projects around Ellsworth.

Kansas Highway 156 that passes east of Ellsworth received improvements at both the intersection of K-14 south of town and K-140 east of town.

“The south project is complete,” said KDOT Area Engineer Karlton Place. “The last time I talked to the inspector, we are waiting on final striping for the 140 and 156 project.”

The projects were designed to remove bypass lanes at the intersections and replace them with left-hand turn lanes.

“State wide, that’s something we’re trying to do is remove those bypass lanes,” Place said. “They’re just not very safe.

“We have had some accident history at both locations. We are hopeful that this improve the safety at both intersections.”

Jon Halbgewachs from Kirkham Michael said prior to the construction, both locations had passing lanes.

“If a vehicle was trying to turn left into town, if you were stopped in the inside lane, cars could go around you. It was confusing to cars on 140,” he said. “Motorists had a hard time if you were allowed to pass on the right, which you were.”

Halbgewachs said the project began in 2019 when the city was awarded funding for the project.

“In 2020 we got started on the design of the project and put out to bid once, the bids came in high, so the city directed us to make some modifications to the project,” Halbgewachs said. “We made some modifications for less asphalt work and we rebid the project.”

Improvements began during the winter, and are nearing completion.

“When everything is said and done, travelers on 156 will have a dedicated left turn lane and also a lane on the right side,” Halbgewachs said.