Kansas Department of Transportation logo for K-10 West Leg South Lawrence Trafficway Study

The Kansas Department of Transportation is currently reviewing alternative expansion plans for Kansas Highway 10 that would maintain connections to Kasold Drive and the Farmer’s Turnpike.

State Transportation Engineer Jerry Younger told a crowd of about 75 people Friday morning that KDOT has taken seriously the concerns it’s heard about the proposal to cut off both access points. A project team is developing options that might “balance everybody’s interests,” Younger said, but he noted he wanted to “manage expectations.”

“We’re trying to identify some options that provide that balance, but the fact is we may or may not be able to get to that point,” Younger said. “We’re going to try awfully hard to get to a solution.”

The Lawrence chamber of commerce arranged Friday’s talk with Younger and KDOT Secretary Mike King after receiving “many calls” about the proposal to expand K-10 from two to four lanes, said Hugh Carter, vice president of external affairs with the chamber. KDOT has presented designs that would close Kasold Drive at K-10 and eliminate access to Douglas County Route 438, commonly known as Farmer’s Turnpike.

The eastern leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway is set to open in November. King said it would create a “bottleneck” of traffic where the road merges from four to two lanes. KDOT is estimating traffic will double along the corridor, he said.

With that in mind, King had a project team start design work to expand the western half of K-10. Funding for the proposed expansion has not been provided, and KDOT has said it’s likely construction wouldn’t begin until 2020.

“We’re going to have a significant pinch point on it, so I wanted to get ahead of the game,” King said. “Now we have to decide whether we continue the project going forward, and how do we continue it. We haven’t made that decision yet to keep the engineering going.”

For the area near Interstate 70 and the Farmer’s Turnpike, KDOT has so far presented two options: a two-level interchange eliminating access to Farmer’s Turnpike — KDOT’s preferred option — and a four-level interchange that makes use of the current interchange and retains that access.

KDOT’s project team heard from dozens of people at a meeting in March that drew nearly 500 people to Heritage Baptist Church off Route 438. Younger and King heard from a few more people Friday who were in opposition to the closure, including Julie DeYoung, president of the Douglas County Trail Riders.

Douglas County Trail Riders is located southwest of the Lecompton exit off I-70, and the venue hosts 30 to 40 events each year. The closure of Farmer’s Turnpike at K-10 would eliminate a safe route to the site, she said. If access is closed, she said, she wants KDOT to consider improving infrastructure along U.S. 40. Elsie Middleton, a member of the Lecompton City Council, echoed that sentiment, saying if Farmer’s Turnpike were closed at K-10, there would need to be another easy and clearly marked path to Lecompton.

Younger said the closure’s effect on U.S. 40 and other county roads is being considered.

Along the rest of the western leg, KDOT is proposing maintaining the interchanges at Sixth Street and Bob Billings Parkway and building new interchanges at Clinton Parkway and an overpass or underpass at Wakarusa Drive.

Current designs call for closing the Kasold Drive intersection. KDOT would install a traffic signal at U.S. 59 and County Road 458 because the closure would force residents of the area to use that intersection, Younger said.

In preparation for the opening of the South Lawrence Trafficway, KDOT proposed eliminating Kasold Drive access this fall, but the idea met opposition at a meeting of the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization in February.

Now, the project team is looking at other options, Younger said, including: the installation of a temporary traffic signal at K-10 and Kasold Drive until it’s expanded to four lanes, then closing it; creating a right-in, right-out system; or building an overpass, though Younger said that option would come with a “hefty price tag.”

“Is there any option that includes keeping the connection open?” Younger said. “I’m not saying that there is that any of us would be comfortable with from a safety standpoint, but that’s what our project team is looking at right now.”

It wasn’t announced Friday when more options would be presented publicly for feedback. Younger said the “clock keeps ticking.”

“The east end will be open this fall, so there still needs to be a recognition that we need to get to that acceptable option as quickly as possible,” Younger said. “I think everyone in this room would agree the most important thing is we get ourselves in a position that a project to expand the west leg of the SLT is pursued.”

King and Younger received some criticism that area residents and business owners weren’t notified about the potential closure of the access points.

Frank Male, owner of Lawrence Landscape — located just 500 feet from the Kasold and K-10 intersection — said he, Wakarusa Township and other affected entities didn’t find out until shortly before the February meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization. At that meeting, the policy board was supposed to hear a presentation from KDOT and forward a recommendation about the Kasold closure to the city and county commissions. After hearing opposition, KDOT decided to delay the proposal.

“I think we were led astray here with public involvement and public notice,” Male said Friday. “I found out by chance that MPO was meeting.”

Male suggested KDOT’s notification policy be expanded to local residents and business owners.

The Rev. Scott Hanks, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church, agreed with Male, saying many people in the area didn’t know of the potential Farmer’s Turnpike access closure until he arranged the meeting about it last month.

Meredith Richey, of Perry, who has filed as a Republican candidate for the state’s 2nd District Senate seat, was applauded after suggesting KDOT hold public meetings early in its planning processes. She said the “animosity” and “giant concern” was created because residents didn’t know of the potential change.

Younger said the process “worked like it should’ve worked,” with assembling a project team and involving representatives from Lawrence, Lecompton and Douglas County.

King reiterated that the work so far has been preliminary and there would be “many more” public meetings on the issue in the future.