Spring construction brings interstate highway closure in north Wichita this weekend

Spring construction by the Kansas Department of Transportation is set to close part of an interstate highway in north Wichita this weekend.

Drivers may want to avoid northbound I-235 and eastbound K-96 from where the two roads merge and head toward I-135. Construction crews are planning a complete closure of both lanes of the interstate from Meridian to Broadway from Friday night to Monday morning, KDOT spokesman Tom Hein said.

“The closure will allow crews to remove part of the existing bridge over the Little Arkansas Rivers so that construction can begin on a replacement,” Hein said in a news release.

Both lanes of northbound I-235 will close at around 9 p.m. on Friday and should be reopened before 6 a.m. Monday. The closed portion of the highway is about 2 miles long.

The transportation department’s designated detour may add several miles to motorists’ travel plans.

Traffic from eastbound K-96 will be directed to southbound I-235, where drivers can exit to eastbound Kellogg and make their way to northbound I-135. Drivers on northbound I-235 must exit at Meridian to turn around and get on southbound I-235, where they can follow the same detour route.

A KDOT fact sheet shows that similar closures of either one or both lanes of I-235 may occur on weekends throughout the project, which is expected to be completed in November 2021.

The bridge replacement is the first road work in a $65 million upgrade on and around northbound I-235. It is part of a larger fix to Wichita’s worst freeway interchange — the North Junction.

The plan includes major reconstruction of the interchange where interstates 135 and 235 meet with Kansas highways 96 and 254.

Road work on the so-called Green Project, the first phase of the larger interchange reconstruction, began Monday. It focuses on the functionally obsolete Broadway Bridge, the structurally inadequate bridges over the Little Arkansas River and the Seneca Street bridge.

Two future projects will focus more heavily on I-135, I-235, K-96 and K-254. Construction dates haven’t been set for the expected $190 million construction projects.