The Kansas Department of Transportation is no longer considering express toll lanes as a potential solution to K-10 congestion and safety issues in Johnson County.
On Tuesday, Cameron McGowan, the project manager for the K-10 corridor improvements study from engineering firm HNTB, told the Olathe City Council that express toll lanes wouldn’t “manage congestion” enough long-term to justify adding them.
Still, McGowan said state transportation officials are exploring other strategies to address long-standing issues on the highway, which has grown increasingly busier in recent years.
About 17.5 miles of K-10 run through Johnson County, primarily through De Soto, Olathe and Lenexa. Local and state officials have long said the highway and the surrounding traffic corridor are in need of serious improvements, repeating time and again concerns about traffic flow and safety.
KDOT sees a number of problems on K-10
- K-10 itself has a number of major sharp curves on it, particularly as you get close to where I-435 and K-10 merge in Lenexa.
- Daily traffic counts on the highway are high, as well: KDOT has estimated there are about 80,000 cars each day traveling K-10 east of Cedar Creek Parkway in Olathe.
- Infrastructure — including bridges — is also outdated or insufficient in some areas, officials say.
K-10 work has been a hot topic over the years
Past studies of the area and other improvement plans — including a big chunk of the 2011 “Johnson County Gateway” project plan — have failed to amount to meaningful change.
Express toll lanes were first floated publicly as a potential element of long-planned K-10 improvements last fall in a similar presentation to the Olathe City Council.
Last year, McGowan said express tolls could potentially be added going both ways between Cedar Creek Parkway in Olathe and where K-10 terminates at I-435, though details beyond what that might have looked like were sparse.
KDOT considering new K-10 interchanges, overpasses
- KDOT’s emphasis for K-10 right now is on more focused improvements, like where interchanges or overpasses could be added along K-10.
- For instance, McGowan said Tuesday that the department is mulling a possible overpass at Clare Road in Olathe and a diamond interchange or overpass at Lone Elm Road.
- KDOT is also looking at ways to address the harsh curve at K-10 and I-435 and possibly add more regular traffic lanes to K-10 between I-435 and K-7.
- “This is our starting point,” McGowan said Tuesday.
Next steps:
- No decisions have been made about what projects to improve K-10 will be done and when.
- More than likely, McGowan said, any work will be divided over the next couple of decades.
- In the meantime, KDOT intends to give more public presentations and keep open a survey for residents.
- Later, public meetings are planned for April and over the summer to continue discussions.
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