More than two dozen Lenexa residents spoke at Tuesday night’s city council meeting against adding a diamond interchange at Kansas Highway 10 and Lone Elm Road, many citing safety concerns for students, bicyclists and pedestrians.
The residents spoke during a public hearing for the city’s 2025-29 Capital Improvement Plan at Tuesday’s Lenexa City Council meeting. Councilmembers Joe Karlin and Craig Denny were absent.
The planned interchange is part of a wider estimated $1.235 billion long-term K-10 corridor improvement project being spurred by the Kansas Department of Transportation.
Those Lenexa residents in opposition to the Lone Elm interchange join city officials in neighboring Olathe just to the south who are also against the project. The Olathe City Council last week agreed to draft a letter to KDOT voicing their opposition, citing concerns about safety in school zones, increased stormwater runoff and traffic noise.
Lenexa has already approved changes at Lone Elm
While the K-10/Lone Elm Road project is listed under Lenexa’s next five-year capital improvement plan, it has already been approved under the city’s current plan, said Mayor Julie Sayers.
“The Lone Elm interchange is already a part of the city’s existing, adopted CIP and has been for many years,” Sayers said. “We are happy to hear your feedback, but please understand that this is already an approved project for the city. Nothing in the CIP changes that approval.”
Alexis Guetzlaff, who lives about a block from Manchester Park Elementary, said she’s worried about the safety challenges with increased traffic for students crossing Lone Elm Road at 101st Street trying to get to school.
“All the business traffic, with the school buses and kids walking along 101st, creates a safety issue for children,” Guetzlaff said. “This is not just a road, it’s not an interchange, it’s not us sitting here pushing back on development.
“We do want the development, we know the city needs to grow,” she added. “However, we really need to understand how 101st and Lone Elm is used by the residents and the schools in both Lenexa and Olathe.”
Some residents were in favor of an overpass — which was an option at one point — rather than an interchange.
“Everybody has always understood an overpass was the original plan, and nobody’s objected to that, that I’ve come across,” said Daniel Browne, another resident who spoke Tuesday.
The city council will likely vote on the 2025-29 CIP during its meeting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 17. However, residents will have another chance to talk about a possible K-10 and Lone Elm Road interchange at 7 p.m., Dec. 12 in the Community Forum room at Lenexa City Hall, 17101 W. 87th St. Parkway.
“City staff and representatives of K-DOT will be present,” Sayers said of the Dec. 12 meeting.
Go deeper: Here’s a link to the K-10 corridor improvement project.
