K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway Construction Engineering and Inspection

Under a three-year project, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) constructed the six-mile, four-lane K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway in eastern Kansas. The project moved existing K-10 onto new alignment, beginning at the south junction of the US-59/K-10 interchange and reconnecting with existing K-10 in East Lawrence. Lochner was responsible for construction engineering and inspection for all roadway work.

Lochner inspectors provided oversight for the construction of the six miles of new roadway, including subgrade modifications and the application of lime-treated subgrade, cement-treated base, granular subbase, and concrete paving. Lochner also provided oversight for the reconstruction of portions of three major side roads, a new three-mile walking path, and a 15-foot-high noise wall alongside a historic cemetery. The project included the construction of 26 bridges, culverts, and other structures, with more than 322,000 linear feet of stone columns under bridge berms and 2.3 million linear feet of vertical wick drains required to accommodate a high water table. Lochner assisted in the inspection of all of these elements, under the direction of the structural construction engineering inspection consultant team.

Approximately one-mile of the new roadway was constructed through a wetlands mitigation area. During construction, no equipment was allowed to come into contact with the ground in that area. The fill, primarily a combination of geotextile fabric, geogrid, and aggregate, was placed on-grade by conveyors and pushed into place by bulldozers. Lochner was responsible for ensuring that these, and other mandated mitigation procedures, were strictly adhered to within the 365-day wetland mitigation time frame.

The entire project was constructed without string: the earthwork grades were established and built using GPS technology, and a model programmed into each piece of equipment was used to establish subgrade, base, and pavement levels. In addition, control points set every 500 feet at robotic stations monitored the equipment movement.