10A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY HAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008
》 CONSTRUCTION
Covering up the potholes
City begins road maintenance project
BY ANDY GREENHAW agreenhaw@kansan.com
The 2008 Street Maintenance Program started yesterday afternoon when Missouri Pavement and Maintenance Inc.'s bid won a
$300,000 crack seal project.
The companies will work on the area north of Sixth Street, between M c D o n a l d Drive and the river, as well as the area north of Princeton Street and west of Iowa Street.
There are seven more streets to bid on.
23rd streets. The "student ghetto" will see Kentucky Street repaved from Sixth to 12th streets.
Those streets should take four to six weeks to complete, Mezger said.
Projects on Massachusetts Street have caused trouble for some businesses in the past because they shut down access to their side of the street and block customers off from local shops and restaurants.
The most notable road repaving projects remaining to be bid on include parts of downtown and "student ghetto" areas, the intersection at 19th and Louisiana streets, and Iowa Street from 23rd to 31st streets.
According to Dena Mezger, Lawrence assistant public works director, 19th Street will be closed to traffic from Tennessee to Alabama all summer long.
Dena Mezger, Lawrence assistant public works director, said the intersection at 19th and Louisiana streets would probably affect drivers the most because 19th Street would be closed to traffic from Tennessee to Alabama streets all summer long. She said the project should be finished by Aug. 4.
The downtown area will have Massachusetts Street repaved from Sixth to Seventh streets and 13th to
Paul Peach, co-owner of
"It definitely sucked last year when we had all that crap," Peach said. "But I like how they get it all out of the way during the summer though because that's when business is slow to begin with."
Pita Pit, 1011 Massachusetts St., said his restaurant had to deal with about three to four months of roadwork, which had a negative effect on its business.
The Iowa Street project will also affect drivers this summer.
The five-lane road will be reduced to a two-to-three lane street from 23rd to 31 streets on Iowa Street.
Mezger expects the city to finish repaving that area by the end of the summer.
Rachel Anne Seymour/KANSAN
Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
Students will be primarily affected by the three maintenance projects outlined in the map. The intersection at 19th and Louisiana streets will be problematic because 19th Street will be closed to traffic from Tennessee to Alabama streets. Massachusetts Street will be repaved from Sixth to Seventh streets and from 13th to 23rd streets. Iowa Street will undergo maintenance projects from 23rd to 31st streets. Also, Kentucky Street will be repaved from Sixth to 12th streets. Most of the repaving should be finished by the end of the summer.
》 ENVIRONMENT
Antarctic ice shelf collapses
WASHINGTON — A chunk of Antarctic ice about seven times the size of Manhattan suddenly collapsed, putting an even greater portion of glacial ice at risk, scientists said Tuesday.
Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started Feb. 28. It was the edge of the Wilkins ice shelf and has been there for hundreds, maybe 1,500 years. This is the result of global warming, said British Antarctic Survey scientist David Vaughan. Because scientists noticed satellite images within hours, they diverted satellite cameras and even flew an airplane over the ongoing collapse for rare pictures and video.
While icebergs naturally break away from the mainland, collapses like this are unusual but are happening more frequently in recent decades, Vaughan said. The collapse is similar to what happens to hardened glass when it is smashed with a hammer, he said.
The rest of the Wilkins ice shelf, which is about the size of Connecticut, is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice. Scientists worry that it too may collapse. Larger, more dramatic ice collapses occurred in 2002 and 1995.
Vaughan had predicted the Wilkins shelf would collapse about 15 years from now. The part that recently gave way makes up about 4 percent of the overall shelf, but it's an important part that can trigger further collapse.
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