KDOT Memorial, (sculpture).

KDOT Memorial, (sculpture).

Larsen, Joe, sculptor.

Ross, Rick, landscape architect.

Leek, Bill, landscape architect.

Tollakson Sculptures, fabricator.

Walters-Morgan Construction, contractor.

Bayer Stone Company, fabricator.

KDOT Memorial, (sculpture).

KDOT Employee Memorial, (sculpture).

1995. Dedicated April 8, 1996.

Digital Reference:

Cottonwood limestone.

Overall: approx. 93 x 308 x 60 in.; Each panel: approx. 93 x 60 x 12 in.

(On upper south face of panel on far right, in incised lettering:) IN MEMORY/OF THE DEDICATED EMPLOYEES/WHO LOST THEIR LIVES/SERVING THE/KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION/AND/THE STATE OF KANSAS/1995 unsigned

The memorial consists of two sets of five vertical panels, in a staggered linear arrangement. The three left panels include a mural depicting highway employees in a work zone against a Kansas prairie backdrop. On the far left, two highway workers are dressed in work uniforms and hard hats. In the foreground, one figure stands to the side of a winding road holding out a "slow/stop" sign with his proper right hand. Out in the distance, at the other end of the road, is a figure adjusting a surveying instrument. The winding road and rolling hills continue into the next two panels and on the third panel there is a sunrise or sunset. An opening separates the three left panels from the two right panels. The fourth panel is blank and the fifth panel on the far right has commemorative text inscription. The panels are set in a brick plaza, on east and west bound sides of rest area.

Figure group -- Male

Occupation -- Transportation

Occupation -- Industry -- Engineering

Object -- Tool -- Measuring Device

Outdoor Sculpture -- Kansas

Administered by State of Kansas, Department of Transportation, Topeka, Kansas 66612

Located Paxico Safety Rest Area, Route I-70, east of Paxico, Wabaunee County, Kansas

Erected by the State of Kansas, Department of Transportation in honor of the State's highway workers and in memory of those workers killed on the job. The memorial was initiated by Kirk Robb in memory of his friend and fellow highway worker Allen Maas. Maas was killed in a work zone accident in May 1993. The memorial was financed with highway construction funds and was integrated into the reconstruction of the Paxico Rest Area.

The memorial was designed by Joe Larsen, then a graduate student in landscape architecture at Kansas State University, and summer intern at KDOT. The project was overseen by the Kansas Department of Transportation's Landscape Section in the Bureau of Design. The limestone slabs were produced by Bayer Stone Company and Tollakson Sculptures. The construction of the memorial was completed by Walters-Morgan Construction. Landscape architects were Bill Leek and Rick Ross.

IAS files contain related articles from the Kansas State Collegian, Sept. 27, 1994, and the KDOT Tranlines, an employee's newsletter, April 1994 and Oct. 1994 and pertinent correspondence between Kirk Robb and State officials. IAS files also contain article from The St. Marys Star, April 16, 1996, pg. 1, which discusses the dedication and the history of the memorial.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Kansas survey, 1996.

The St. Marys Star, April 16, 1996, pg. 1.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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