Westbound K-10 ramp from Sixth Street closes until November

The westbound K-10 ramp from Sixth Street closed Tuesday and will stay shut until November, forcing west Lawrence commuters onto a marked detour and pushing more traffic onto nearby arterials. The change hits one of the city’s most heavily used connections for drivers heading between Sixth Street, U.S. Highway 40, and the South Lawrence Trafficway.

Kansas Department of Transportation says drivers leaving Sixth Street for westbound K-10 should follow the signed route along Sixth Street, Wakarusa Drive and Bob Billings Parkway, or pick another corridor entirely. That detour will matter most during the morning and afternoon rush, when traffic headed to schools, office parks, shopping areas and neighborhoods on the west side of Lawrence is already tight.

The closure comes with some relief for other ramp users. The Sixth Street ramp to eastbound K-10 and the eastbound exit ramp to Bob Billings Parkway, both closed since February, are set to reopen. Traffic between the Sixth Street and Bob Billings Parkway interchanges will also be squeezed into one lane in each direction on the newly completed eastbound lanes, a shift that should keep vehicles moving but is likely to slow trips through the work zone.

The ramp changes are part of the South Lawrence Trafficway project to widen K-10 from two lanes to four. KDOT says construction began in fall 2024, and the work is being built in two pieces, a north project and a south project. The south project covers U.S. 40 and K-10 from just north of U.S. 56 to the Wakarusa Drive area.

Lawrence and Douglas County drivers have already lived through several phases of the same corridor work. In February, the Sixth Street ramp to eastbound K-10 and the eastbound exit ramp to Bob Billings Parkway closed beginning Feb. 16 through late May. In March, the southbound K-10 exit ramp to West Sixth Street closed through early June. In May, the eastbound exit ramp from K-10 to Clinton Parkway also closed for the expansion.

KDOT says the widening is meant to improve safety and mobility while reducing pressure on Lawrence’s street network. For now, the practical result is a staggered mix of openings and closures that should keep the corridor in motion, but with west Lawrence drivers adjusting again as one of the key ramps disappears for the rest of the year. Travelers can check KanDrive or 511 for active and planned construction updates.