After more than a year of work, Midland Drive at Interstate 435 in Shawnee has reopened, following the completion of a highway bridge reconstruction project.
On Monday, the city of Shawnee announced the reopening of both Midland Drive and I-435 after two extended closures to make way for the Kansas Department of Transportation’s $9.5 million bridge project.
While construction was happening, the I-435 underpass bridge on Midland Drive and some I-435 ramps were blocked off, which cut off traffic to the nearby retail area the city has dubbed the Midland Entertainment District, leaving business owners disgruntled.
The re-opening of the area comes ahead of schedule. It was planned to be a 16-month project, starting in June 2024 and originally planned to be completed in November.
“The City of Shawnee is very pleased that KDOT and their contractor completed the 435 bridge re-decking well ahead of schedule,” Doug Donahoo, Shawnee’s communication director, said in an email to the Johnson County Post.
The project started in June 2024
On June 24, 2024, KDOT closed parts of Midland Drive near I-435 to work on replacing the bridge.
“The northbound and southbound I-435 bridges over Midland Drive are more than 40 years old, and the bridge decks are nearing the end of their service life, in need of replacement,” Delaney Tholen, KDOT’s public affairs manager, stated in a previous email to the Johnson County Post.
The project was broken up into three phases:
- Phase 1 ran from June to August 2024. It included making temporary pavement markings, widening shoulders and crossover construction, as well as bridge improvements.
- Phase 2 ran from August to December 2024. It included improvements to the northbound I-435/Midland Drive bridge. After that, the project shut down for the winter from December to March.
- Phase 3 resumed the project in late March and finished up last week with bridge improvements on the southbound I-435/Midland Drive bridge and culvert work.
The project was controversial for local businesses
Before the project began, the city tried to get the word out through the city’s website, emails and other social media channels, Donahoo said.
Still, some local business owners felt they were cut out of the conversation for the project and left with little time to plan for a drop in customers and foot traffic.
“We were pretty much notified four days before things happened,” Kevin Collins, general manager at Barley’s Kitchen and Tap, said in a previous interview. “We had no idea it was happening or we would have put it in our budget.”
In response, last fall the city rebranded the area — which contains businesses like B&B Theatres Shawnee 18 cinema, Minsky’s Pizza, Bar West and Chen’s Kitchen — as “The Midland Entertainment District”.
Residents feel “relief”
Residents fueling up at the nearby Phillips 66 gas station this week expressed happiness at Midland Drive opening back up.
“That both felt like it went really quick and way too long,” said Sam Fletcher, a Lenexa resident who works in Shawnee. “Trying to navigate some of those detours or playing the, ‘Is it open? Is it closed?’ game got old.”
Feeling bad for the businesses in the area, Rosie Gibson, a Shawnee resident, said she hopes they recover.
“I know they got hit hard by this. We need them to stick around. This is an important area to the city,” she said.
With big tourist events like the FIFA World Cup on the horizon, Donahoo said the city will continue looking for ways to help bring business to the area.
“City Hall is working on a number of ideas for the (Midland Entertainment District) we will bring in front of the governing body in the coming months to increase visitors to the area,” Donahoo said. “The completion of the project means the [Midland area] will be primed to welcome visitors to Shawnee’s hotels during the World Cup next year.”
Go deeper: Shawnee businesses reeling from I-435 bridge work. How is the city helping?
