Kansas to Spend $1.2 Billion on Transportation Over Next Two Years
Kansas officials are touting a $1.2 billion transportation plan, which they said will help improve the flow of freight and upgrade aging transportation systems around the state over the next two years.
The plan would provide $399 million to rehabilitate 82 bridges, $397 million to add lanes or interchanges to roadways, and $242 million for 195 highway projects.
The largest piece of the plan is a $116 million expansion of the Interstate 235/U.S.-Highway 54 interchange in Wichita, which is a major freight corridor.
Thomas Whitaker, executive director of the Kansas Motor Carrier Association, said the plan will “improve the interchange a lot.”
“That’s needed to be rebuilt for a long time because the on and off ramps to it are very short and the amount of congestion in that area is very high,” Whitaker said.
The overall plan is the latest installment of a 10-year program to modernize and expand more highway projects, bridges and interchange projects, said Transportation Secretary Mike King.
“This continues the steady flow of work, and the construction jobs created by that work,” King said, adding that the “construction work will create jobs for hundreds of workers” and make it easier for carriers to transport freight around Kansas.
Other projects targeted by the plan include a $95 million expansion of Highway 54 in Wichita, $52.6 million to improve nearly 12 miles of Interstate 70 in the western part of the state, and $43.4 million to improve nine miles in Gove County near Trego County.
Construction crews are also scheduled to replace a bridge along U.S. Highway 69 over the Missouri River in Wyandotte County, upgrade an 11-mile stretch of roadway in Columbus in southeast Kansas, and fix parts of Interstate 435 by Quivira Road junction, east to Metcalf Avenue in Johnson County.
Transportation officials have focused on fixing their infrastructure over the years because the Sunflower State is a prominent player for freight transportation throughout the Midwest, Whitaker said.
A report by the American Society of Civil Engineers determined that driving on aging roads costs Kansas motorists $646 million annually in additional vehicle repairs and operating costs.
That comes out to about $300 per motorist. The group of engineers also found that 2,658 of the 25,176 bridges in Kansas are considered structurally deficient, and 1,959 of the 25,176 bridges no longer meet today’s standards.
