Four-laning of U.S. 69 slowly moving forward

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Initial moves to four-lane U.S. Highway 69 are slowly taking shape.

Darrin Petrowsky, an area engineer with the Kansas Department of Transportation, recently met with Bourbon County Commissioners to request they consider the county's future involvement in the road expansion, scheduled to begin in 2017.

The majority of project is in Crawford County, Petrowsky said, with only about four miles in Bourbon County's jurisdiction. However, Petrowsky said the project has reached the point where interchange locations need to be identified with the purchase of the rights-of-way through the state. Estimated project cost is $47 million.

"We'd like for you guys (the county commission) to start reviewing and seeing if you guys have any better suggestions than what they came up with in 2010," he told the panel at their July 27 meeting. Petrowsky referred to the 2010 U.S. 69 Corridor Study, which involved an advisory committee and public input.

"(We've) got to get the counties concurrent on interchange grade separation and road closure locations, as well as access road locations, which will be turned over to them for maintenance after the construction," he said.

Plans to build an upgradeable expressway" between Fort Scott and Arma have been approved under the T-WORKS program, the state's comprehensive transportation initiative.

An "upgradeable expressway" is an expressway where sufficient right-of-way has been purchased to build a freeway in the future, according to the Corridor Summary. The upgrade, officials say, is supposed to be "easy."

KDOT officials have started surveying the land for the proposed expansion and are expected to be finished at the end of September.

"Now it's time to get some serious thinking done," Petrowsky said. "And what you guys are thinking is going to affect what you guys have to do in the future ... Those are some of the things that we really have to start thinking about."

Petrowsky said state officials would like KDOT to organize two separate meetings before Sept. 14, with both Bourbon and Crawford County commissioners, to gauge the county's preferences about the project.

Sometime in October or November, a public hearing will be held to give landowners and residents a chance to ask questions or express comments or concerns regarding the future project and the proposed interchange locations.

"Nothing that we do right now is really set in stone, but we've got to start somewhere," Petrowsky said Tuesday. "We're just trying to get the i's dotted and t's crossed with everything so we can go forward with the construction of them."

The Fort Scott to Arma highway expansion has been in the works for more than 10 years. Financial constraints have slowed the project's momentum.

U.S. Highway 69 Association member Dean Mann said he's been involved with the organization for more than 15 years. He said the original overall goal for the more than 50-year-old organization was to construct a four-lane highway from Kansas to Oklahoma.

Mann said the organization has been lobbying for the highway's expansion since its construction in the 1990s.

In 2011, Gov. Sam Brownback announced the continued expansion of the highway to Arma at an estimated cost of $47 million.

"We lobbied and worked very hard for that part of our project," Mann said. "These things don't happen very quickly."

Years ago, Mann said there used to be a bumper sticker that read "Pray for me; I drive Highway 69."

"It used to be one of the most dangerous highways in the state because of the hills and narrowness of the road," he said.

The most important factor in the highway's original construction and its continued expansion is safety, Mann said.

"That's why you stay involved," he said referring to the years he has worked with the organization.

Another reason for his continued involvement, Mann said, is the fact that U.S. 69 Highway is the "biggest economic engine" in Southeast Kansas.

Mann noted that transportation is the "key element" to economic growth and development and a four-lane highway supports that.

Whenever public input is sought, Mann said everybody affected should try and participate.

"I think that's an important element that people certainly try and participate in the process," he said.