“Central and I-235 has been a notorious bottleneck for a long time,” says Jim Armour, City Engineer. “With nearly 30,000 vehicles a day passing through this connection, this project will make driving safer and easier for Wichita motorists. We appreciate local businesses and the traveling public’s cooperation and patience during construction. The payoff will be worth it.”

Central at I-235 (between Eisenhower and Hoover) is being reconstructed, to extend the left turn lanes on Central under the I-235 overpass and to add right turn lanes from Gilda north of Central and from the I-235 exit ramp onto Central.

The left-turn lanes from Central onto I-235 are now only long enough to accommodate four or five cars, causing traffic backs up onto the through lanes, creating rush-hour logjams and effectively reducing Central to just one lane for eastbound and westbound motorists. The project will create left-turn bays for 20 cars in each direction, without interfering with eastbound and westbound traffic.

During construction, traffic on Central will be limited to one lane in each direction. Also, left turns will not be permitted, except at Eisenhower and Boyd for access to the neighborhoods just west of I-235.

There will be no left turn onto the Gilda entrance to southbound I-235, or to the entrance ramp to northbound I-235. To reach southbound I-235 through Gilda, traffic will have to approach from the west, and to access northbound I-235 from Central, motorists must approach from the east. Detour routes will also be marked from the east for southbound I-235 and from the west for northbound I-235.

Later during the project, the northbound I-235 exit ramp will be closed; a detour route using Zoo Boulevard and Kellogg will be posted.

Access to area businesses will be maintained during construction.

“You can get to area businesses,” says Mike Jacobs, Special Projects Engineer for the City of Wichita. “But the road improvements will cause necessary delays and detours.”

The project will be done in four phases, beginning with removal of the medians on Central, followed by construction of new storm water lines and pavement, one side of Central at a time (south and then north).

Along with work on the south side of Central, from mid April through July, Gilda street south of Central will be one lane southbound only. The northbound exit ramp from I-235 onto Central will be closed for three weeks while a right turn lane is added.

Along with work on the north side of Central, from August through October, the northbound I-235 entrance ramp will be closed for three weeks and new traffic signals will also be installed. Gilda north of Central will be southbound only.

Landscaping will be done in spring 2009.

The construction schedule may be affected by weather.

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