Between 80 and 90 trains run through Olathe daily, halting traffic for four minutes on average, sometimes more — an issue the city is hoping to resolve.
Olathe’s at-grade crossings on the city’s west side have been under watch for some time, and the city has been planning for nearly two years to do a limited, high-level study on them. Now that the city has secured federal funds for the study, Olathe can do a more in-depth analysis of the sites.
On Aug. 5, the Olathe City Council voted 5-0 to approve two measures, authorizing grant funding and a study for eight at-grade crossings, when trains and vehicles cross at the same level, and one low-clearance crossing, like a bridge under which vehicular traffic, in western Olathe. Mayor John Bacon and Councilmember Robin Essex were absent.
“We’re going to look at each crossing and see what we can do from a safety standpoint, from a congestion management standpoint or if that crossing even still needs to exist,” said City Engineer Nate Baldwin.
Olathe had a plan about 18 months ago to start this study, but then the city put it on pause while it sought a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration, Baldwin said.
“What we initially had was dust off some old plans, come up with some concept studies and look at things at a very high level,” he said. “Well, about a year and a half ago, we found out about this grant application and were given a heads up that we’d be a great fit for this.”
The $2,350,000 study will take about three years, funded by:
- a $1,750,000 grant from the Federal Railroad Administration,
- $500,000 from the city of Olathe,
- and $100,000 from BNSF Railway.
While the study doesn’t guarantee changes will be made to the crossings, the grant allows the city to complete environmental assessments of each site — making potential projects more competitive for federal funding.
“This also gives us a better chance to take a deeper look into each of the projects, do some preliminary engineering on them,” Baldwin said, adding that the study will provide potential design and construction costs.
The eight at-grade crossings include:
- Dennis Avenue
- Elm Street
- Loula Street
- Park Street
- Santa Fe Street
- Mulberry Street
- Harold Street
- Woodland Road
- Spruce Street (the low-clearance crossing)
The study will help identify a priority list of the crossings, determining what sites need work done first.
Baldwin expects the study to wrap up around January 2028, with recommendations and options for each crossing — though city staff plan to provide updates and additional data to the city council throughout the process.
Councilmember Dean Vakas said that despite study completion being about three years away, he hopes to get construction on the crossings started sooner.
“The sooner we can get something moving on the priority crossings, I think we’d all be happier for that as a city,” Vakas said.
Keep reading past Olathe railroad coverage: Olathe spending $3.4M to create quieter railroad crossings on city’s east side
