Wichita’s five most expletive-inducing construction zones

Progress can be painful.

And Wichita drivers are feeling alllllllll the pain this summer. On the way to work, to the pool, to the store – even to Costco (gasp!) – orange cones, detours and the resulting traffic congestion and collisions are blocking the way.

You sigh. You curse. You plot escape routes, then find those escape routes blocked by all the other motorists with the same fight or flight instincts.

This is Wichita, not Denver. Not Kansas City. We don’t have traffic. We don’t do congestion.

Sure, it’ll all be worth it. Some day. Most Wichitans have lived through enough Kellogg construction to know that the bulldozers and excavators will eventually sputter away, the ramps will eventually open, and the improved safety and convenience will help erase the horrible memories of the traffic hell that was the summer of ’17.

But they also know that as soon as that happens, a new disruptive project will dawn. (Psssst: Kellogg under I-235 will be reduced to one lane for each direction during two different weekends.)

%#$@!!!!!

Following are our nominees for the five most maddening projects plaguing Wichita drivers.

5. Downtown disaster zone: It’s gotten a bit more bearable since the city finished the curb upgrades earlier this summer, but the construction zone on Douglas in front of the former Wichita Eagle building is still troublesome – especially at rush hour and during concerts. At the moment, eastbound Douglas is down to one lane, and the drivers gawking at the giant hole in the ground left behind by the now-demolished building keep things moving pretty slowly. Worst of all – finding parking at The Beacon for breakfast is a near impossible mission.

It’s not much better over on Central, where the road is down to one lane for drivers heading east from Waco all the way past St. Francis. This ensnares City Hall workers and fans of El Patio alike.

4. The impossible maze that is Pawnee at I-135: You know it’s bad when a baby doll gets involved. This intersection – and blocks and blocks surrounding it – are very, very bad. Crews have Pawnee torn up, and the road is down to one very slow moving lane from Pawnee and Ellis to Pawnee and Volutsia. That includes the intersections at Hydraulic and Southeast Boulevard.

Worse, it’s nearly impossible to find a way up on to I-135 from Pawnee. To get on headed north, you have to be driving eastbound. Otherwise, you’ll have to do a flip around, and the most obvious place to make the flip around – Friendship Baptist Church at 2209 E. Pawnee, which has a day care inside – has had enough. It has several signs posted at its entrance, warning those tempted not to enter the parking lot. One of those signs, hand-written, is being held by a baby doll strapped to a school chair at the parking lot entrance. “NO TURN AROUND!” the baby pleads.

3. The never ending detour from I-235 south to westbound Kellogg: Just don’t take it. Don’t. If you try, you’ll see westbound Kellogg fading in the distance as you drive farther and farther and farther south, desperately looking a detour sign to follow. You won’t find one until you’re practically to Oklahoma. OK, the flip around is at K-42, but the whole process is just too much.

2. Only Andover gets to shop at Costco: Getting to Costco from east-bound Kellogg is a task so impossible and infuriating, you might give up buying in bulk for life. At the moment, road construction at Kellogg and Webb prohibits a left turn onto Webb. So to get to Costco, drivers must travel a good distance east on Kellogg to the approved U-turn area then head back to the store. See also: Getting back to Wichita from the Turnpike exit.

1. Live west? Leave work by 3 p.m.: If you live on the west side, you’ve discovered that there’s just no easy way home this summer. The most obvious route, westbound Kellogg, is a mess. The highway merges from three lanes to two at around Meridian and doesn’t open back up until past I-235. This causes all sorts of messy problems, including people who understand the “zipper merge” being squeezed out by people who think the zipper merge is the equivalent of cutting in line. (The zipper merge, for those who don’t know, is what the Kansas Department of Transportation recommends during lane closures. The idea is that, rather than pulling over into the open lane as soon as they see that one is closed ahead, drivers proceed in both lanes right up to the closure then take turns going forward. It keeps things moving.)

Rear-end accidents are a frequent event on this stretch, and you can imagine how that adds to an already slow-moving situation. And if you think you’re going to avoid it by taking Maple, Douglas or Central, you’re going to be disappointed. Everyone else has had the same idea, and those streets are also barely moving. (It’ll be even worse when school is in session.) Central is a particularly poor escape route choice. Try to get through the intersection of westbound Central at I-235 just once during the 5 p.m. hour, and you’ll quickly realize that taking your chances on Kellogg is a better bad option.

As part of a massive Kansas Department of Transportation improvement project, two bridges are being built over the Big Ditch – one for the southbound I-235 ramp to westbound U.S. 54 (Kellogg) and one for the flyover ramp from northbound I-235 to westbound U.S. 54.

This story was originally published July 28, 2017 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Wichita’s five most expletive-inducing construction zones."