Compliments of https://www.ksdot.org
Some notes about the North Wichita Junction Project:
- I-135, I-235, & K-254 were constructed in the 1960s to early 1970s
- K-96 was constructed in the early 1990s
- Each day, over 96,000 vehicles (including over 9,400 trucks) use the Wichita North Junction
- By 2050, over 160,000 vehicles are anticipated to use the Wichita North Junction each day
- The I-235 bridges over the Little Arkansas River are in poor condition
Phase 1
The Green Project will replace aging pavement, the structurally deficient bridges over the Little Arkansas River, and the functionally obsolete bridges over Arkansas Avenue and Broadway Avenue. It will add continuous auxiliary lanes on I-235 and improve the ramp geometry at the Broadway Avenue Interchange. The project will improve local mobility by removing the Seneca Street Bridge over I-235 and connecting Meridian Avenue to Seneca Street via a new local roadway. The Green Project sets up I-235 to function with future phases of the Wichita North Junction Project.
The construction estimate is $65 Million in 2018 dollars. Construction is anticipated to begin in the spring of 2019 and last approximately 3 years.
Phase 2
The Gold Project will improve safety and reduce congestion. The morning peak hour bottleneck causes major delays and operational failures on northbound I-235 from west of Broadway to southbound I-135 at K-96. This morning bottleneck will be alleviated by providing a two- lane direct connection from northbound I-235 to eastbound K-96 and an extended auxiliary lane along eastbound K-96 to the exit at Hillside.
The evening peak hour bottleneck causes major delays and operational failures on northbound I-135 from K-96 through the loop ramp and west of I-135 on southbound I-235. This evening bottleneck will be alleviated by replacing the existing loop ramp with a two-lane flyover direct connection. The Gold Project will also provide connections from northbound I-135 to eastbound K-254 and southbound I-135 to southbound I-235.
The Gold Project will replace the existing one-lane loop ramp from westbound K-96 to southbound I-135 with an improved two-lane loop ramp for handling projected traffic far into the future. It will add a continuous auxiliary lane on southbound I-135 from the loop ramp to 21st Street North.
The construction estimate is $80 Million in 2018 dollars. This project is under preliminary design.
Phase 3
The Purple Project completes the remaining major infrastructure improvements. It will relocate mainlines of I-135 and K-254/I-235 including removing the left-off / left-on ramps. The project completes interchange connections for all the major roadways (I-235 / I-135 / K-254).
The construction estimate is $110 Million in 2018 dollars. This project is under preliminary design.
For full details, click through to the PDF here
