Widening West Kellogg (U.S. 54) to a six-lane full access control freeway involved a multitude of design challenges including providing orderly and safe passage of over 40,000 vehicles per day and access to an established business district during construction. PEC minimized the impact of the project on the public through:
• careful planning
• detailed construction operation
• traffic control sequences
• on site monitoring throughout construction

Kellogg connects east to west Wichita and accesses all major trafficways in the City including the Wichita Downtown Business and Museum Districts. The improvements relieve West Kellogg congestion by eliminating traffic signals and providing flyovers at Maize and Tyler Roads.

The Improvements
The new freeway has auxiliary ramp lanes between the interchanges at Mid-Continent Drive, Tyler and Maize Roads and is paralleled on the north and south by frontage roads that run the entire length of the project. Urban tight diamond interchanges constructed at Tyler and Maize Roads reduce congestion and provide safe access to and from the freeway.

Other improvements were made on Tyler and Maize Roads both north and south of Kellogg including multiple turn lanes to handle the anticipated future traffic growth. New longer bridges were constructed over the Cowskin Creek as part of the City’s ongoing efforts to reduce flooding along the Creek.

Creative Alignment
Alternative alignments were evaluated to determine which minimized impacts to adjacent businesses, while meeting overall project objectives of providing a safe and improved transportation facility that would meet future traffic demands. PEC’s experience proved useful in developing a highway alignment, which allowed for completion of the project in an efficient and timely manner.

The selected alignment design shifted the freeway slightly north of the existing highway. This limited the impact to businesses on the north side of Kellogg, rather than impacting both sides. It also allowed the new Cowskin Creek and Maize Road bridges to be construted while traffic was still carried on the existing highway, thus accelerating the construction schedule. The project was completed six months earlier than it would have been if the alignment went down the middle of the existing highway.

Bridges & Artistic Enhancements
Twin three-span trapezoidal steel box girder bridges were constructed to elevate Kellogg over Tyler and Maize Road. Four prestressed concrete beam bridges were constructed to carry the freeway and frontage roads over Cowskin Creek. PEC met with City Staff and the Design Council Review Board to develop reasonably priced aesthetic enhancements incorporated into the project.

Form liners were used to cast impressions into the bridge abutment walls and piers. The shapes represent an aerial view of the Kansas landscape. Planters and landscaping placed along the retaining walls breakup the overall massiveness of the retaining walls. The Mechanically Stabilized Earth (MSE) retaining wall system was selected for its feasibility, ease of construction, and consistency with other projects along the Kellogg corridor.

Services
PEC worked directly with the City of Wichita, Kansas Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration to assure all design and construction standards were met. The $48.2 million cost of the project was financed entirely through the City’s one-cent sales tax enacted in 1985.

PEC provided overall project management for the improvements, as well as design for drainage and storm sewer improvements, water main improvements, traffic signals, signing, lighting, landscaping and irrigation. PEC also provided surveying, geotechnical, right-of-way research, legal descriptions, construction administration/inspection and materials testing during construction.

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