(Image credit: southlawrencetrafficway.org)
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — After years of debate and legal action, construction work has officially begun on the South Lawrence Trafficway. Kansas transportation department spokeswoman Kim Qualls says crews began removing vegetation Tuesday to create a new route for Haskell Avenue. The Lawrence Journal-World reports construction has not begun in the Baker Wetlands, which was the center of the controversy that delayed construction since the mid-1990s. Qualls could not estimate when construction would begin in the wetlands. When completed, the trafficway will connect Interstate 70 northwest of Lawrence with Kansas Highway 10 to the east. Construction on the nearly $130 million project is expected to take three years.