Ottawa ? Franklin County residents on Thursday got a good look at construction plans for U.S. Highway 59 that should improve safety on the stretch of road between Lawrence and Ottawa, even if construction will displace some landowners.

Dozens of people streamed in and out of a meeting room at the Franklin County Annex, 1418 S. Main St., and poured over plans and color-coded maps provided by the Kansas Department of Transportation that laid out the path of the new highway, including right-of-way and easement proposals that will displace some landowners.

The current stretch of highway has become notorious for accidents, including a wreck at the intersection of U.S. 59 and County Road 460 on May 25 that killed a Baldwin woman.

According to KDOT, the stretch of U.S. 59 from Lawrence to Ottawa has an accident rate 25 percent higher than similar Kansas highways. The project, which will cost an estimated $209.5 million, will expand the highway to four lanes and create controlled access points.

“We won’t have people getting on and off at stop signs, which is what happened at that accident near Zarco last week,” said Howard Lubliner, the KDOT road design leader for the project. “In that regard, it will be a lot safer.”

But the safety benefits of the new highway won’t stop growing pains for the people who own land in the proposed right-of-way. KDOT will begin appraising right-of-way purchases and then acquiring land this fall.

Darin Schlotzhauer was among those Thursday who had a mixed reaction to the plans. A corner of Schlotzhauer’s 17-acre plot off of Stafford Road is scheduled to become part of a highway interchange, which puts a damper on some of his plans.

“It’s not going to be suitable for us to build a house on, like we wanted to,” Schlotzhauer said. “But we’ll own one corner of an interchange – that might be worth some bucks down the road. Somebody’ll want to put a Quick Shop in. We might even do it ourselves.”

Fred Ferguson and his wife, Marlene, came to look at how the project will affect a 9-acre plot of land Marlene owns. While the Fergusons will be negatively affected by the new road, Fred said he understood the need for the highway and wanted to work on a fair deal for the land that will be acquired by the state.

“Four-lane highways cause a lot of problems when they go in, but if you didn’t have four lanes, where would you be today?” Ferguson said. “You gotta have ’em.”

A similar meeting for Douglas County residents will be held in late June or early July, Lubliner said, though a date and time have not been finalized.