A planned highway and road improvement project in Johnson County is moving forward with millions of dollars in federal funding.
Lone Elm Road breaks up at Kansas Highway 10, curving into numbered streets in Lenexa to the north and Olathe to the south. With the help of a new $16 million federal grant, the street will connect the two cities and become a diamond interchange with highway access.
The interchange project is a partnership between the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and Lenexa, and also includes two miles of auxiliary lanes between K-7 and Woodland Road.
In late June, the city of Lenexa announced it received a $16 million Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (or BUILD) discretionary grant for the Lone Elm interchange project.
While backed by Lenexa city officials, the the proposed interchange has received pushback from other quarters, notably from the Olathe City Council, which sent a letter to KDOT in late 2024 voicing opposition to adding an interchange at Lone Elm.
Some Lenexa residents have also expressed concerns about pedestrian safety and traffic that a new interchange could create, particularly for school children walking nearby.
More recently, though, an Olathe city spokesperson said the city is looking forward to working with KDOT on the project.
“I can’t speak for Council, but the City looks to continue collaboration with KDOT on the K-10 and Lone Elm bypass as part of this process, aiming to provide an alternate truck route away from neighborhoods and schools,” Olathe spokesperson Cody Kennedy said in email to the Johnson County Post.
The grant is awarded to surface transportation infrastructure projects with “significant local or regional impact,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The project is expected to cost about $43 million overall.
“The BUILD grant brings us closer to delivering an interchange that will improve safety, create more direct access for our students who attend school in the Olathe School District, and support economic development for decades to come,” Lenexa Mayor Julie Sayers said in a press release announcing the grant.
Lenexa city staff have also been supportive of the project, with it being part of the city’s long-term comprehensive plan.
“The city has, in fact, planned for this possibility in our comprehensive plan and planning of properties around the Lone Elm interchange for many years — in fact, decades,” Community Development Director Scott McCullough said at a Lenexa Committee of the Whole meeting last year.
The grant also received the backing of Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids.
The interchange is part of bigger KDOT project
The planned interchange is part of a wider estimated $1.24 billion long-term K-10 corridor improvement project aimed at improving a 16.5-mile stretch of K-10 and easing traffic congestion through a growing part of western Johnson County, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.
While the project has received opposition, it got the green light to move forward in 2025 when the Federal Highway Administration gave the overall project a required “Finding of No Significant Impact” in its Environmental Assessment approval in July 2025.
KDOT unveiled preliminary designs for the project in September 2025.
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.
Residents still focused on getting safety concerns addressed
Residents who live near the proposed interchange have been some of the biggest opponents, including Lenexa resident Alexis Guetzlaff, who worries about issues like semi-trucks and other cars coming directly off the highway and entering local neighborhoods, as well as pedestrians staying safe on the roads.
“All the business traffic, with the school buses and kids walking along 101st, creates a safety issue for children,” Guetzlaff said in a previous interview.
Since KDOT presented preliminary designs for the project, Guetzlaff said pushback has lessened. Now, Guetzlaff seems resigned to the project moving forward.
“When we went to the final meeting where the City Council and KDOT basically presented and were like, ‘This is going forward as is,’ that was kind of the end for a lot of us,” she said in a message to the Johnson County Post on Tuesday.
Instead of opposing the project altogether, neighbors in the area plan to focus on the parts of the project the city of Lenexa controls, such as the Lone Elm and 101st intersection, 101st and Prairie Creek intersection, street signage, school zones, and what gets approved for development in the area, Guetzlaff said.
Her local homeowners association plans to meet with city councilmembers Mark Charlton and Bill Nicks on Aug. 26 to discuss safety measures they want addressed, she added.
What’s the timeline look like?
Unchanged: Potential construction on the interchange is expected to start in 2027. It is expected to be completed by 2030.
Last October, residents on the north side of K-10 on streets like 101st Street and Sunset Drive voted to approve noise walls to dampen noise from the highway and interchange.
