US Highway 281 Reopened North of Russell

The Kansas Department of Transportation has reopened US Highway 281 to through traffic north of Russell.

The road was closed in March 2021 as part of the $9.8 million T-WORKS project to rehabilitate and reconstruct approximately four miles from 15th Street in Russell to Land Road.

The second phase of the project, from Land Road north to Kansas Highway 18, is slated for a March 2022 letting. The tentative schedule will keep the road open during the 2022 and 2023 construction seasons since the majority of the work during this time will be occurring off of the roadway (drainage structure improvements and earthwork grading operations). KDOT anticipates closing the road in March 2024 to complete the balance of the work, which will primarily focus on the roadway surface improvements.

The original T-WORKS project, which encompassed the entire corridor from Russell to the west K-18 junction, was delayed in 2016 because of budget constraints. The project was later split into two pieces with phase one reinstated in 2019 to address the significant road failures caused by a geological slide area between Shoreline Road and Land Road. Construction on phase one began in April 2020 with project costs totaling approximately $9.8 million.

(Information courtesy KDOT.)