U.S. 160 between Wellington and Oxford. (Image courtesy Google Maps)
Gov. Laura Kelly has announced $776 million in highway project spending, and nine miles of U.S. 160 between Wellington and Oxford is included in the plan.
According to a news release from Kelly’s office Friday, the work on U.S. 160 is listed as a modernization job that will rehabilitate the highway and add shoulders. The project there will total $14 million and construction letting should begin in 2023.
The plan also calls for similar work for K-42 in the northwestern corner of Sumner County near the Sedgewick County line and K-2 to Clonmel, an unincorporated community in Sedgewick County for a combined 16 miles of road.
That combined section of construction will cost $19 million and is also slated for 2023.
Overall, Kelly announced a total of 24 Expansion and Modernization highway projects as part of the her administration’s bipartisan transportation plan.
Kelly
“Expanding and modernizing our highways will enhance accessibility and road safety to recruit new businesses and families to every Kansas community,” Kelly stated in Friday’s press release. “Since day one, we’ve honored our commitment to ending the practice of using infrastructure dollars for projects they were never meant for – instead using these dollars to fix our roads, bridges, and expand broadband access.
“These 24 projects are further proof that good stewardship of these funds is benefitting our communities, taxpayers, and businesses.”
Projects were announced in Dodge City and Wichita on Wednesday and in Topeka and Overland Park on Thursday that will help relieve congestion and enhance safety, the press release said.
Urban projects include the first express toll lane on U.S. 69 in Overland Park, a new Polk-Quincy viaduct in Topeka, a new diverging diamond interchange east of Lawrence and major improvements to the I-235 North Junction in Wichita.
In rural areas, 20 projects across the state will focus on adding or extending more than 26 miles of passing lanes on numerous highways, rehabilitating and adding shoulders on more than 40 miles of highway and widening/adding shoulders on more than 22 miles on sections of K-7.
KDOT will host Local Consult meetings this fall to identify additional regional priorities to be added to the development pipeline and continue working on those projects placed in development in May 2020.
More information on the projects can be found here.
