More detours ahead as 69 Express work continues

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — There are more street closures coming to Overland Park soon, as construction crews work on the 69 Express project.

The 69 Express project adds one express lane to the highway going north and one express lane to the highway going south. It also means 119 ^th Street underneath the highway will soon have to close.

It will close in both directions, just east of Grant to just west of Farley/ Three Lakes Parkway. The closure will not begin until you’re just east of Grant Street. It means drivers will still be able to get into the Highland Plaza, where businesses like Tanner’s and Hwy 69 Liquor are.

“We had a meeting at the Tanner’s with the Overland [Park Chamber] of Commerce,” Hwy 69 Liquor Owner Deepak Sood said in an interview with FOX4 Thursday. “They said that they will put business access signs on Switzer and down 119th to help us and help customers to find ways to get down here.”

Sood is happy customers will still be able to access his business in the strip mall. In June, FOX4 also interviewed him. At that time, he said he wasn’t making any money, partly because of all the construction. Thursday, FOX4 talked about his concerns with 69 Express Project Director and Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) engineer Steve Rockers.

“We don’t take it lightly,” he said of Sood’s comments. “When we do these closures, we kind of try to make sure we do the minimum impacts, and kind of by doing it in 60 days as fast as possible, the full closure, we believe that is the way to minimize the impacts.”

A closure of 60 days, sometime in the middle of August, means 119 ^th Street underneath 69 Highway will be closed until the middle of October.

“I know that 60 days seems like a long time, two months, but what they’re going to do with this work is pretty intense,” Rockers said. “These guys are going to be out here working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to make sure they get it done in those 60 days.”

To get around the closure, Rockers sent us a map:

If you want to go eastbound on 119th Street, you should take Quivira south to 127th Street. Then, turn left onto Antioch and go north until you get back to 119 ^th Street.

If you’d like to go west on 119 ^th Street and are impacted by the closure, take Antioch north to College. Then go west on College until you get to Quivira. Hang a left on Quivira and go south until you get back to 119 ^th Street.

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