Olathe has set aside $20.3 million for a project aimed at updating a stretch of 159th Street to improve traffic capacity.
Earlier this week, the Olathe City Council voted 5-0 to authorize the 159th Street improvement project between Mur-Len and Black Bob roads.
The upgrades have been identified as a priority in the city’s Transportation Master Plan due in large part to a crash rate of 3.31 per million vehicle miles traveled on the road — about double the statewide average, according to the Olathe’s 2025 capital improvement plan.
The vote on the 159th Street project was included on the city council’s consent agenda Tuesday, which means it wasn’t individually discussed but considered alongside a series of other items in one vote.
Councilmembers Kevin Gilmore and Matthew Schoonover were absent from the meeting.
Olathe will widen 159th Street, add turn lanes
- The plan is to improve 159th Street from a little bit west of Mur-Len Road to Black Bob Road, per city documents.
- Currently, the street is two lanes without curbs and gutters or sidewalks.
- After the work, 159th Street will be a four-lane street, with curbing and gutters, medians, bike lanes, sidewalks and streetlights.
- Olathe also plans to modify an existing stream crossing at 159th Street and add a traffic signal at the intersection with Brougham Drive.
Activity around 159th Street is ramping up
While some neighborhoods have been located in the area surrounding Johnson County’s Heritage Park for years, there’s been a recent uptick in additional residential development along 159th Street.
Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City is also building a 14-home pocket neighborhood near 159th Street and Black Bob Road with the support of federal funds. Infrastructure work is wrapping up at the site, and vertical construction is expected to begin later this year.
In 2024, the Olathe City Council approved a 305-home neighborhood called Heritage Ranch on a 130-acre property at the corner of 159th and Black Bob. That subdivision is expected to be built in four phases.
During the Heritage Ranch approval process, traffic concerns on unimproved rural roads in the area were a key sticking point for neighbors and at the Olathe Planning Commission.
At the time, city staff assured those who expressed traffic-related worries that this project and a few others planned in southern Olathe to update roadways would address that.
Next steps:
- Design for the roadwork project is expected to occur this year, followed by utility relocation and required land acquisition in 2026.
- Construction of the 159th Street improvements is scheduled for 2027.
More Olathe infrastructure news: Olathe spending $3.4M to create quieter railroad crossings on city’s east side
