Public has chance to weigh in on U.S. 69

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Fort Scott citizens and business owners have a chance to weigh in on the U.S. 69 Corridor Study.

The City of Fort Scott, Bourbon County, and the Kansas Department of Transportation will host public design workshops from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., April 6 at the Lyons Twin Mansions, 740 S. National Ave. The workshops are intended to gather ideas from local residents and business owners for the future of the U.S. 69 Corridor from U.S. 54 to South National Avenue.

"Its more of a hands on approach to get people involved in the process and developing those solutions," Kyle Anderson of Felsburg Holt & Ullevig, the study's engineering company said.

Those in attendance will work the engineering study team and express ideas and concerns with transportation issues in the study area. Anderson said citizens and business owners are encouraged to attend because they have the most vested interested in the study.

"The intent for the design workshops is to provide the public some opportunity to provide direct input to the study team on concerns, issues, and perhaps visions they would like see incorporated," Anderson said.

According to Anderson, the study is still in the early stages. He said, since the kick-off meeting in late January, the engineers have been collecting information such as traffic counts, accident data, and land use inventory.

"We're still very, very early in the process," Anderson said. "We're in the idea development stage."

Anderson added that the study team hopes to take ideas from the design workshops and formulate some concepts for the study to be presented at the steering committee meeting.

According to a statement from KDOT, a brief summary of the design workshops will be presented at 5:30 p.m., April 7 at the Lyons Twin Mansions. Also, identical workshops will be held April 21 and 22 to address the area from South National Avenue to the Bourbon County-Crawford County line.

For more information about the design workshops or the US 69 Corridor Study, contact KDOT Public Affairs Manager, Priscilla Petersen, at (877) 550-5368 or visit the study's Web site at www.us69corridorstudy.com or e-mail at info@us69corridorstudy.com.