Kansas Gov. Kelly says her highway plan restores the state’s roads without a tax hike

by Jim McLean, Kansas News Service

Topeka, Kansas — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s transportation plan isn’t as bold as those that came before it.

Since the 1990s, Kansas has spent tens of billions of dollars on three successive 10-year programs. Each required a tax increase and launched with a commitment to complete a long list of new building projects.

But Kelly, a Democrat who won election on a promise to restore the state’s finances, isn’t proposing a bunch of new projects. And she isn’t seeking a tax increase to help pay for her plan.

Instead, she’s pledging to stop taking money from the Kansas Department of Transportation — and asking lawmakers to do the same — so that the agency can rebuild roads and bridges suffering from years of lax maintenance. She’s also promising to complete all but one of the 21 projects abandoned during a budget crisis that followed tax cuts passed under Republican Sam Brownback when he was governor.

Half of the $10 billion Kelly proposes spending over the next 10 years is earmarked for maintenance work.

“We must close the ‘Bank of KDOT’ and make sure that funding for transportation is spent on transportation,” Kelly said last when announcing the program.

That means no more raids on the pool of money earmarked for transportation.

Those raids were commonplace during the Brownback administration. With tax revenues plummeting, Brownback and lawmakers diverted about $2 billion to plug gaping holes in the state budget.

Kelly has slowed the transfers and pledged to end them by 2023.

Limited money for big projects

Breaking with precedent, Kelly isn’t committing to a set list of highway projects. Instead, said KDOT Secretary Julie Lorenz, a handful of projects will be selected every two years based on what the agency concludes are the most urgent needs.

Doing that, she said, will give the agency the flexibility it needs to respond to emerging issues and “make good investments that stand the test of time.”

At the moment, Lorenz said, nothing is more urgent than expanding a section of U.S. 69 that cuts through the Johnson County community of Overland Park. It’s the busiest stretch of four-lane highway in the state. More than 80,000 daily commuters regularly transform it into a virtual parking lot during the morning and evening rush hours.

“In terms of congestion on a four-lane highway, it’s the worst in the state,” Lorenz said. “It gets a grade of ‘F’ today and it gets worse in the future if we don’t do something about it.”

Engineering a solution isn’t a problem, finding a way to pay for it is, said Carl Gerlach, the mayor of Overland Park.

Adding express lanes that motorists would have to pay to use is likely the only way to get the proposed $300 million project done quickly, he said.

“If we don’t do something unique and different like tolling, we may have to wait ten, 13, 14 years before we get U.S. 69 expanded,” Gerlach said. “Can we do that? I don’t think so.”

The express lanes would likely be built in between the existing northbound and southbound lanes. Drivers would use electronic gadgets like those that automatically record their tolls on the Kansas Turnpike.

Express lanes have a mixed record. Still, research done by the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California-Los Angeles found that toll lanes can be a cost-effective way to reduce traffic congestion. They’re more effective than simply adding more “free” lanes to existing roads or expanding mass transit.

“Pricing reduces congestion,” ITS researchers said in a recent report. “Nothing else does.”

Under Kansas law, you can’t charge tolls on existing highways. Just new ones.

To add express lanes on U.S. 69, state and local officials would have to produce a study that they would both ease congestion and partially pay for themselves.

Lorenz thinks the project can be finished more quickly by putting it on a regulatory and logistical fast-track. So, she wants to start construction while engineers are still working on the design, rather than waiting until all the blueprints get drafted and approved.

KDOT used that process for the first time on a massive interchange in Johnson County finished in 2017. It connects Interstates 35 and 435 with Kansas 10.

“We shaved a year off that schedule and we got 12 percent more project … for the dollars,” she said.

Using the faster process to deliver the U.S. 69 project, Lorenz said, would save more than money.

“For every year that we delay in building your project, folks sit in traffic five million hours,” she said.

Balancing urban and rural needs

While many of the state’s most pressing transportation needs are in urban and suburban centers, Lorenz said there’s also money in the plan for road projects in rural Kansas. But, she said, not enough to satisfy the desire for four-lane highways everywhere local officials are clamoring for them.

Southwest Kansas is a case in point. Residents there say heavy truck traffic to massive meatpacking facilities in Garden City, Dodge City and Liberal have made existing roads unsafe.

“If you travel on Highway 83, you … would not believe all the trucks,” said Beth Tedrow, a Garden City Community College trustee, at a meeting with state lawmakers from the region just prior to the state of the 2020 legislative session.

Officials in the region can make a case for a four-lane highway, Lorenz said, but the state simply doesn’t have the money to build one unless communities in the region can cover a substantial portion of the cost.

“So, I’m working hard to sell passing lanes,” Lorenz said.

In addition to being cheaper to build and maintain, she said, passing lanes “provide an enormous safety benefit.”

A recent KDOT study that evaluated the effectiveness of the passing lanes along a section of U.S. 400 in southeast Kansas showed they reduced crashes by 32 percent.

If a community that wants a four-lane is willing to accept passing lanes as an intermediate step, that increases the chances for state funding, Lorenz said.

“We will give them bonus points, if you will, additional consideration,” she said.

Jim McLean is the senior correspondent for the Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy. You can reach him on Twitter @jmcleanks or email jim (at) kcur (dot) org.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.

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New Menards store opens near 98th and State Avenue

The new Menards store on 98th Street, north of State Avenue, opened this morning to the public.

Wyandotte Daily’s readers have been asking quite frequently when the new Menards store at 1301 N. 98th St. will open.

The store opened to the public this morning at 6:30 a.m., according to general manager Jim Hrivnak. It will be open through 10 p.m. Hours will be 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays.

The store has 209,000 square feet inside, he said. Outdoors, where the lumber yard is located, it has 175,000 square feet, he added.

Hrivnak said the Kansas City, Kansas, location, which is on 98th just west of Schlitterbahn, is a little bigger than other Menards stores in the area, but not by much. Menards also has stores in Kansas City North, Olathe and Independence.

It will have the same services as the other area stores, but the store has a different layout, and it will have more selection in lighting, plumbing and electrical items, he said. Besides building supplies, the store also has a garden center.

The store employs about 190 team members, and they are always looking for good team members, he added.

The community “has been fantastic,” Hrivnak said. As they were building the store and putting everything together, every day for the past few weeks there have been over 100 cars coming into the parking lot asking if they were open yet, he added.

“We’re just excited about being here,” he said. “It’s been a long journey putting it together. We hope to see everybody come into the store and check it out.”

Police notes

Burglary reported at business


An unknown suspect broke into the front entry of a business about 3:45 a.m. Feb. 17 in the 200 block of North 7th Street, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.


The suspect entered the unoccupied business and stole property, police reported.

Pursuit reported in 7200 block of Kansas

A pursuit was reported about 4:49 a.m. Feb. 17 in the 7200 block of Kansas Avenue, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

Officers attempted to stop a vehicle for a traffic violation, according to the report. The vehicle failed to stop and a pursuit was initiated. The pursuit went a short distance and then was terminated, the report stated. The suspect was not apprehended.

Pursuit reported in 5900 block of State

A pursuit was reported at 5:01 a.m. Feb. 17 in the 5900 block of State Avenue, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

After observing a traffic violation, officers tried to stop a vehicle; however, it did not stop. A pursuit was initiated and went a short distance before being terminated, police reported. The suspect was not apprehended, the report stated.

Police make arrest in stolen truck case

Officers located a stolen truck around 1:16 p.m. Feb. 17 in the 3000 block of Parallel, and attempted to stop the vehicle, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

The suspect did not stop, and a pursuit began, according to the report. The suspect then left the vehicle and fled on foot, police reported. Police took the suspect into custody after a short foot pursuit.

Officers arrest man on warrants after foot pursuit

Kansas City, Kansas, officers tried to stop a suspect for warrants about 5:20 p.m. Feb. 17 in the 1700 block of New Jersey, according to a social media post by the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.

The suspect left on a bicycle and a foot pursuit was initiated, police reported. The pursuit went a short distance and the suspect was taken into custody without further incident, according to the report.