Duncan Construction Digs for New Kansas Shopping Center

Sat March 30, 2002
Richard Miller

For Johnson County, KS, residents, the shopping options continue to grow. Added to this list is Shawnee Crossings, a 315,000-sq.-ft. (28,350 sq m) retail complex located on a 60-acre (24 ha) site on the southeast corner of Kansas 7 Highway and Shawnee Mission Parkway in Shawnee, KS.

The complex is 10 mi. (16.7 km) from the newly completed Kansas Speedway and coincides with other growing retail and commercial development that are being built around the racing complex.

The $575,000 contract for site preparation was awarded to R. L. Duncan Construction of Desoto, KS. Starting in February 2000, Duncan’s crew worked to move the 260,000 cu. yds. (198,473 cu m) of material. Bruce Lefman was the project’s superintendent.

Part of the material being moved included both rock and shale. According to Russell Duncan, vice president of R.L. Duncan Construction, the rock was too close to both natural gas and fiber optic utilities that bordered the project. The utility locations prevented the company from blasting, requiring the use of a Komatsu PC300LC, with a NPK 16X hydraulic hammer to loosen the rock. The coupler featured on the excavator allowed the operator to quickly attach the bucket which loaded the Cat D30D and Volvo A25 articulated trucks.

A 621B Cat scraper and D8 crawler also provided support in moving material around the site. The project’s fill and embankments were compacted with a Cat 815.

Additionally, enough excess material existed on site allowing a third party contractor to remove fill for needs elsewhere. The site preparation project was completed in August 2001.

Duncan is now involved in a second phase on this site, which includes the improvement and expansion of the city streets that will feed into the retail complex.

Formed in 1985, R.L. Duncan Construction now employs 35 people who work on 15 projects in the eastern Kansas area.