From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 11, 1990:

Summer had arrived with hot weather and the inevitable road projects. “This is a critical time of year for us,” said Frank Hempen this week, adding that seven miles of county roads were to be repaved this summer and that his office was proposing to patch and seal another 50 miles. The road sealing project was still under review, Hempen said, but “we generally try to do about 50 miles a summer.” That number was necessary in order for the county to meet its maintenance goal of having all hard-surfaced roads sealed every three years, he explained. Hempen said he expected to hear soon from the Kansas Department of Transportation on whether the county would receive more state money for improvements to a three-mile stretch of Douglas County Road 1023, which ran north from Highway 40 near Big Springs. County commissioners had considered making 1023 a full-depth asphalt road, Hempen said, but had ended up deciding to build a chip-and-seal road because the initial construction costs were significantly lower.