Eastbound K-10 ramp at Clinton Parkway closes Tuesday for SLT work

Drivers who use the eastbound Kansas Highway 10 exit ramp at Clinton Parkway will need to plan a different route starting Tuesday, when the ramp closes for work on the South Lawrence Trafficway. The detour will send traffic to 6th Street and Wakarusa Drive, a change that will ripple through daily trips to west Lawrence, south Lawrence jobs, schools and medical appointments.

Kansas Department of Transportation says the ramp will stay closed until the South Lawrence Trafficway project is complete. The closure is part of the new eastbound alignment of the SLT, which is being widened from two lanes to four lanes as construction continues through southwest Lawrence and Douglas County. KDOT said work on the overall project began in fall 2024 and is intended to improve safety and mobility while reducing pressure on Lawrence’s street network.

The next major traffic shift is expected by early July, when K-10 traffic between U.S. 40, or 6th Street, and Clinton Parkway is scheduled to move onto the new eastbound lanes. At that point, the U.S. 40 entrance ramp and the Bob Billings Parkway exit ramp are expected to reopen. Until then, drivers coming from eastbound K-10 will have to use the marked detour instead of the direct Clinton Parkway exit many Lawrence commuters rely on every day.

Even with the ramp closed, access to Clinton Lake State Park will remain open. KDOT said visitors will be able to reach the park from Bob Billings Parkway and N. 1500 Road, along with the new E. 875 Road and E. 900 Road. That matters for summer traffic headed toward the lake, campgrounds and recreation areas west of town, where unfamiliar road changes can quickly slow weekend travel.

This is only one phase of a longer corridor rebuild. KDOT’s plans for the Clinton Parkway interchange call for two roundabouts, one at the eastbound ramp and one at the westbound ramp. Farther east, improvements at the U.S. 59/Iowa Street interchange are planned to include folded-diamond ramps, more ramp lane storage and a pedestrian-bicycle bridge over U.S. 59/Iowa Street.

Travelers have already seen the corridor shift in stages. A previous closure that began Feb. 16 shut down the U.S. 40, or 6th Street, ramp onto eastbound K-10 and the eastbound exit ramp to Bob Billings Parkway, with detours using 6th Street, Wakarusa Drive and Bob Billings Parkway. And the SLT rebuild is still not finished: KDOT’s north project, which includes the I-70 and K-10 interchange with Farmer’s Turnpike and improvements on K-10 to U.S. 40/6th Street, is scheduled to be let for bid in September 2026.