The Kansas Department of Transportation unveiled preliminary designs for an interchange in Lenexa that’s part of a larger plan to expand Kansas Highway 10.
On Tuesday at a Lenexa City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, representatives from KDOT and HNTB, a Kansas City-based infrastructure design firm, presented designs for the Lone Elm interchange, a much-discussed section of the larger $1.2 billion project to expand K-10’s capacity along a 16.5-mile span in Johnson County.
The designs come following the announcement earlier this summer that the overall K-10 corridor project received a required “Finding of No Significant Impact” in its Environmental Assessment approval from the Federal Highway Administration, a key hurdle for work to move forward.
The larger K-10 project stretches along the east-west highway from the Johnson-Douglas county line to Interstate 435 and runs through parts of De Soto, Lenexa and Olathe. It’s meant to address congestion and traffic safety concerns and includes 13 different interchanges, including the proposed new one at Lone Elm.
As it stands during the presentation, KDOT and HNTB are identifying parts of the project where they can perform preliminary designs and start budgeting for them. If the money is available, then the projects will be funded for construction during the next couple of years.
“We’re funded up through what we call final design now. Once construction money is identified, then that would be kind of a shovel-ready project. But at this time, we don’t have funding for it,” Steven Cross, KDOT’s project manager, told the committee this week.
Since the presentation was for informational purposes only, the committee took no vote.
Lone Elm was the main focus of Tuesday’s discussion
While KDOT touched on other parts of the K-10 project, like another interchange at nearby Cedar Creek Parkway, officials on Tuesday mainly discussed designs for the Lone Elm interchange, which will run parallel to either side of the east-west highway — at 102nd Terrace on the Lenexa side to the north, and 103rd Terrace on the Olathe side to the south.
The interchange will expand Lone Elm Road itself to a four-lane divided roadway, with two lanes being added as rights-of-way off K-10.
Noise walls would be built on the north side of the interchange to dampen sounds from vehicles coming off the highway. KDOT plans to ask nearby residents at a town hall in 2026 if they want noise walls.
After four public meetings and multiple meetings with advisory groups, KDOT said one of the main concerns people voiced were pedestrians and children going to school who would have to cross the bridge going over K-10, as well as additional traffic that would funnel through existing neighborhoods near Lone Elm.
While residents have called for a pedestrian overpass or underpass, KDOT favored a bridge with two 12-foot pedestrian trails on each side.
The proposal includes imposing a 30-mile-per-hour speed limit along the Lone Elm bridge, as well as traffic signals to urge drivers to slow down coming off the highway and, “No right turn on red” rules during school hours.
KDOT looked into separate pedestrian overpasses and underpasses, but determined that they would be too out of the way for people walking in the area and that a sidewalk would ultimately need to be built on the bridge regardless.
What’s the timeline look like?
While the city of Lenexa has already acquired pieces of road for the right-of-way passage on the north side of the Lone Elm nterchange, it still has to purchase land for the right-of-way on the south side, which is expected to happen in December.
Tentatively, KDOT is expected to host a public open house in October at a location that is still being determined.
It will also host a separate discussion for residents on the north side of the interchange in early 2026, where they can vote whether they want noise walls installed.
KDOT is expecting funding for parts of the project to come together by the end of this year. Announcements for projects in its construction pipeline are expected to be unveiled in December.
In spring 2026, KDOT will look into utility relocations for the project.
Following KDOT and HNTB’s presentation Tuesday, Lenexa city councilmembers questioned Cross, the KDOT project manager, on several aspects of the project, from noise concerns to the need to make people coming off of the highway stop at all times, instead of just during school hours.
“I would support a, ‘No right turn ever’ [rule] because I see that it does work at I-435 and Quivira. It isn’t perfect. There are people who aren’t familiar with the area that blow through that stop, but Overland Park does a pretty good job of enforcing that, and they do ticket people who blow through that intersection,” Mayor Julie Sayers said.
“Those of us who live in the area kind of hold the line and make sure that we are stopping at that right turn, not only because it just increases safety, but it’s also hard to see if you’re looking to the left across the interchange,” she added.
Residents voiced their concerns
While public input during a Committee of the Whole meeting isn’t required, the committee opened the floor to 12 residents, who voiced either their concern or outright opposition to the Lone Elm interchange.
“I will just say it’s this is disappointing, and not just because we didn’t get our way, as has been pointed out, (but) because this is going to be detrimental to our community and our way of life,” Lenexa resident Alexis Guetzlaff said.
Whitney Royer also expressed her objection to the project, saying that the city’s preliminary acquisitions of land for right of ways has already had a negative effect on her neighborhood,
“This is poor city planning at its finest, and I don’t blame you specifically. I blame years of poor city planning here in Lenexa,” she said to the committee.
Stating that she would be directly affected by the interchange, Monica Salmon expressed worries about what the view of her home will be once the project is finished.
“My house will actually look at either a [noise] wall or the exit ramp,” she said.
There were also concerns about construction and what that will look like once that ramps up, Salmon added.
“The safety of the construction has to be taken into consideration. There are a lot of children. There are a lot of bikes. There are a lot of kids on scooters, etc.,” she said. “Whether their parents are gonna let them be on scooters around that little neighborhood (where) we live. That’s just something that really, really needs to be taken in consideration of how we treat the construction, because it’s so, so close to our homes.”
Go deeper: Project to expand K-10 in Johnson County earns key federal approval. What happens now?
