Land use regulations and millions of dollars in upgrades over the next 20 years will help the U.S. 77 corridor between Winfield and the state line keep pace with growth and development, according to a preliminary report on the corridor.
A draft of the 84-page U.S. 77 Corridor Management Plan arrived in Cowley County for review Thursday. Winfield city manager Warren Porter provided NewsCow.net with an electronic copy of the document.
“We’ll have some meetings and see where we go from there,” said Porter, who cautioned that key elements of the report could still change upon further review. “That’s really the next step.”
He added that the recommendations are only guidelines and not requirements.
The cities of Winfield and Arkansas City teamed with the county and the Kansas Department of Transportation to fund a study of the fast-developing corridor. The study covers an area starting in south Winfield and ending at the Oklahoma border.
Kansas City-based HNTB, a transportation consulting firm, produced the report.
Though the report calls for extensive enhancements to the corridor it’s not clear how those improvements would be funded. The report calls for a 10-year program to solve immediate traffic issues and a 20-year plan for more significant projects.
The study found that 500 to 1,500 cars per hour use the corridor to travel between Ark City and Winfield during peak times. About 90 percent of those drivers are from inside the county. With those traffic numbers expected to grow, the report says, it’s important to develop the corridor appropriately.
Among recommendations the report makes:
*Develop the stretch of U.S. 77 connecting Winfield and Arkansas City into a freeway system with fewer access points and graded interchanges every few miles.
*Create a U.S. 77 corridor advisory committee to oversee and facilitate discussions about issues impacting the corridor.
*Complete an alignment study for a future West Winfield Bypass to connect US-77 to US-160 and US-77 north of Winfield.
*Using roundabouts or traffic signals, especially along the Arkansas City bypass, to ease current traffic issues.
