The Kansas Department of Transportation held a ribbon cutting today for the new Highway K-14 realignment between Hutchinson and Sterling.
The new highway opened this afternoon, after the ribbon cutting.
The realigned K-14 provides a 15-mile asphalt freeway with eight-foot paved shoulders connecting Hutchinson to Nickerson to Sterling, through Reno and Rice counties. Right-of-way has been secured to enable future expansion to four lanes.
The new alignment is more efficient for motorists; it avoids the stops, changing speed limits and sharper turns involved in the old alignment, which in places dated back to World War I.
Access to the new K-14 is limited to ramps at three new interchanges: at 56th Avenue near Hutchinson, at Nickerson Road near Nickerson, and at Broadway Avenue near Sterling. Ramp access is intended to reduce the risk of collisions.
This KDOT realignment project started in the spring of 2021. Bob Bergkamp Construction Co. Inc., of Wichita, is the primary contractor for the $82 million project.
In Reno County, the seven-mile project included five bridges and 24 reinforced concrete boxes. Earthwork involved more than two million cubic yards of fill and more than 100,000 tons of asphalt. The project in Rice County is about eight miles long and required the construction of six bridges, 19 concrete boxes and a similar amount of fill and asphalt as in Reno County.