A Kansas City planning firm held public meetings last fall and winter in Basehor and Tonganoxie to gather information as part of a U.S. Highway 24-40 corridor study.

And now, officials with the firm want a broader view.

“Typically a public meeting will not have a real large attendance and doesn’t always represent fully all the constituents in the study area,” said Charlie Schwinger, of Bucher, Willis and Ratliff. “So the idea of the survey is a statistical way to sample not just a few people, but the whole study area and to validate whether what we heard in the public meetings rings true with the whole planning area.”

In coming weeks, the ETC Institute, a national group, will randomly poll 1,200 households in southern Leavenworth County. The group will mail surveys. For those surveys that are not returned, ETC will follow up on the phone.

The corridor study is a collaboration of Kansas Department of Transportation, Mid-America Regional Council, Leavenworth County and the cities of Basehor and Tonganoxie. The study is designed to, when finished, guide Basehor, Tonganoxie and county officials on how to keep traffic moving along the highway while also promoting economic development.

The study focuses on the 13-mile stretch of 24-40 between Kansas Highway 7 and Leavenworth County Road 1, which is just south of Tonganoxie.

On March 29, Bucher, Willis and Ratliff will conduct an open house from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Basehor-Linwood High School gymnasium to showcase its findings.

“It’s really important that people come to this meeting coming up in March,” Schwinger said. “People can tell us ‘yes’ or ‘no, you guys didn’t get it right’ or whatever’s appropriate.”

Basehor Planning Director Dustin Smith said the study should be finished in May or June.

It is expected to cost between $200,000 and $250,000. KDOT has pledged to finance nearly two-thirds of the project, while MARC will kick in another $20,000. Basehor, Tonganoxie and Leavenworth County will split the remainder.