K-10 safety

Congratulations to local officials who pressed their case for safer access to East Hills Business Park.

Many drivers who regularly travel Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence were stunned last April when the Kansas Department of Transportation announced that no action was needed to improve safety at the highway’s intersection with the entrance to East Hills Business Park.

It’s seemed obvious, with the poor visibility for westbound drivers approaching the intersection and the high volume of vehicles entering and leaving East Hills, that some action was needed. Even more amazing was that the state’s announcement came only days after a collision at the intersection had sent three people to the hospital.

The good news, however, is that local officials familiar with the intersection didn’t take “no” for an answer. After local leaders and representatives of businesses in the East Hills park voiced their concerns, KDOT officials moderated their position last month, and Lawrence officials now are actively pursuing funds and plans to make access to the business park safer.

As KDOT originally contended, the solution apparently isn’t to reduce speed limits or add a traffic signal at the current business park entrance; it is to create a new entrance at a more suitable location. City commissioners agreed this week to apply for a $2.5 million state grant to create a new entrance at Franklin Road, west of the current entrance between Noria Road and Franklin Road. A new road would run parallel to K-10 and connect to the business park’s interior road system. Traffic signals probably also would be necessary at the intersection, which also provides access to the Douglas County Jail, south of the highway.

Although a group of city, county, state and business park representatives who are meeting to discuss traffic safety in the area has not formally endorsed the Franklin Avenue idea, the plan seems to make sense and offer a significant improvement in safety. It’s also positive that city officials are moving quickly to try to address this problem before more serious accidents occur.

It’s been noted by at least one East Hills representative that completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway would vastly improve the situation by diverting traffic to the east of East Hills. It seems obvious, however, that with poor visibility from the east and the amount of truck traffic entering and leaving the business park, access improvements will be needed even if the SLT is completed.

City officials are doing the right thing by being proactive on this issue. The grant application deserves strong consideration by state officials who now seem more aware of the needs for safety improvements near East Hills.