Kansas Turnpike Bridges

Kansas Turnpike Bridges
Kansas Turnpike Bridges
Coordinates	38°59′31″N 95°14′21″W / 38.9920°N 95.2393°W
Carries	6 lanes of I-70 / Kansas Turnpike
Crosses	Kansas River
Locale	Lawrence, Kansas
Maintained by	KTA
Characteristics
Design	2 Deck Truss Bridges (original spans),; 2 multi-beam girder bridges (current span)
History
Opened	1956 (original spans); 2009 (current westbound span); 2010 (current eastbound span)
Location

The Kansas Turnpike Bridges are a pair of multi-beam girder bridge that carry the Kansas Turnpike and Interstate 70 over the Kansas River at Lawrence, Kansas.

The first bridges were a pair of deck trusses, each carrying two lanes of traffic. The bridges were the site of the groundbreaking of the Turnpike on December 31, 1954.^[1] The bridges, along with the rest of the Turnpike, was opened for a day of free travel on October 20, 1956, between 6 a.m. and 2pm.,^[4] then opened for regular traffic on October 25 at 10 a.m.^[1]

The bridge was widened and rebuilt sometime after 1973.^{[citation needed]}

By 2007, the bridges were considered to be at the end of their design life, and a project to replace the bridges was begun.^[5] The first of the two new bridge was opened to traffic in October 2009, carrying 2 lanes in each direction.,^[2] with the demolition of the old bridge occurring with several blasts, the first of which occurred on November 15, 2009^[6] and the last on January 13, 2010.^[7] The second bridge was completed in late 2010, with traffic moved onto the new bridge on November 29.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Big Impact Seen For Local Area In Superhighway". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. October 24, 1956. pp. 1–2.
^ ^a ^b Fagan, Mark (October 22, 2009). "Thousands of vehicles to roll across new bridge today". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Kansas River Bridges update #65" (Press release). Kansas Turnpike Authority. November 28, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
^ "KTA Officials Say Traffic Heavy on Pike This Morning". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. October 20, 1956. p. 2.
^ Lawhorn, Chad (August 3, 2007). "5 bridges in county 'deficient'". Lawrence Journal-World. pp. 1A, 5A. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
^ Fagan, Mark (November 16, 2009). "Bridge no match for explosives". Lawrence Journal-World. pp. 1A, 4A. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
^ "Another piece of turnpike bridge falls into Kansas River basin". Lawrence Journal-World. January 13, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.

This article about a bridge in Kansas is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[LJW-102456-1] "Big Impact Seen For Local Area In Superhighway". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. October 24, 1956. pp. 1–2.

[LJW-102209-2] Fagan, Mark (October 22, 2009). "Thousands of vehicles to roll across new bridge today". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved January 24, 2010.

[KTA-112910-3] "Kansas River Bridges update #65" (Press release). Kansas Turnpike Authority. November 28, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.

[LJW-102056-4] "KTA Officials Say Traffic Heavy on Pike This Morning". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. October 20, 1956. p. 2.

[LJW-080407-5] Lawhorn, Chad (August 3, 2007). "5 bridges in county 'deficient'". Lawrence Journal-World. pp. 1A, 5A. Retrieved January 24, 2010.

[LJW-111609-6] Fagan, Mark (November 16, 2009). "Bridge no match for explosives". Lawrence Journal-World. pp. 1A, 4A. Retrieved January 24, 2010.

[LJW-011310-7] "Another piece of turnpike bridge falls into Kansas River basin". Lawrence Journal-World. January 13, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.

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