A traffic study may be undertaken that would look at how a new Kansas Turnpike interchange would affect Eudora and Douglas County.

A county staff memo says the new interchange – under construction 3 miles south of Tonganoxie and about 6 miles north of Eudora – will increase traffic on Eudora’s Main Street, as well as in Douglas County.

The study will cost up to $17,580, and Eudora and the county would split the price tag. Douglas County Commissioner Charles Jones said the cost is small for a study that will provide a great deal of information. Officials hope the study will then help to determine how to move traffic through the area – and whether any new roads should be constructed.

“You have to pay to get a place at the table,” Jones said.

But Commissioner Jere McElhaney questions why an independent study is needed.

“(The turnpike authority) had to do their homework,” he said.

Keith Browning, the county’s public works director and engineer, said the Kansas Turnpike Authority would not have studied the effect of the new interchange on Douglas County.

“What they would study would be the volume of traffic that would use the interchange,” he said.

Eudora City Council approved the expenditure in July. BG Consultants Inc. of Lawrence has submitted a proposal to study traffic volumes south of the new interchange.

Commissioners will consider the request during their meeting at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the courthouse, 1100 Mass.

Also on the agenda for Monday’s meeting is a proposal to spend about $225,000 on the elevators at the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. The three elevators were installed in 1976 and parts are becoming obsolete, according to a memo from purchasing director Jackie Waggoner.