Light traffic moves around the Kasold

Most in attendance Thursday knew the intersection could eventually be closed. However, they thought the closure would happen years — not months — in the future.

KDOT is currently engineering a plan to expand the western leg of K-10 from two to four lanes. There’s no funding for the construction of the project, and it likely wouldn’t start before 2020, KDOT officials have said. The closure of the Kasold Drive/East 1200 Road intersection was expected to happen at that time.

But recently, KDOT, citing increased traffic volume and safety concerns, said it wanted to close the intersection by November, when the east leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway is opened.

“We’re here to seek the support from the city of Lawrence and Douglas County in efforts to close this intersection prior to the east leg opening,” said Ryan Barrett, a project manager with KDOT. “The concern, obviously, is we have a huge safety concern with doing nothing at this particular location.”

Barrett said K-10 would see 18,300 average daily trips after the east leg of the SLT opens, up from the current 7,500 daily trips. If the Kasold Drive/East 1200 Road intersection were to stay open, it’s expected that it would take an average of two minutes of wait time to make a left turn there.

Crashes at the intersection are expected to increase from 1.25 crashes per year to 3.1, most of which would likely be severe collisions, Barrett said.

Of the dozens of people who packed inside a room in City Hall on Thursday, no one disagreed with the safety concerns. But many — if not all of them — thought there should be an alternative to closing the intersection.

Residents both south and north of the highway said that without the access point to K-10, they would be forced to use either U.S. 59 to the east or the Corps of Engineers road over Clinton Dam to the west.

There was also concern for school buses using either U.S. 59 or the dam road, and Frank Male, with Lawrence Landscape, said large trucks from his business would have to use one or the other, too.

“Closing this, it’s the easiest thing for KDOT to do, it’s the cheapest thing for KDOT to do, but it’s not the right thing,” said Tony Morino, who lives north of the intersection.

Residents voiced safety concerns with merging from a county road onto U.S. 59.

Sue Gehrt, operations manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Clinton Lake, said the increased traffic on the dam road, which is maintained by the Corps of Engineers, would cause strain.

“I’m concerned because I think I’m going to see increased maintenance because I will have increased traffic,” Gehrt said. “We have enough money to do routine work, to keep it striped, but it’s hard for me to get money for road work.”

Some in attendance Thursday spoke in favor of an alternative presented by Barrett to construct right-in, right-out lanes at the intersection. But, Barrett explained, the plan would be costly. It would include constructing concrete barriers and widening the bridge over Yankee Tank Creek to provide adequate space for cars to accelerate to the posted speed limit. He estimated the configuration to cost about $1.6 million.

A couple of commenters suggested lowering the speed limit in the area so the stretch of road necessary to accelerate in that type of configuration would be short enough to do so without widening the bridge.

Others proposed different ideas altogether, such as installing a stop light or roundabout at the intersection in the time until the K-10 expansion.

Those in opposition to the closure created a website, savethekasoldintersection.com, and started an online petition.

Barrett said that, though KDOT was willing to hold a public forum, the process would need to happen quickly.

“The east leg is scheduled to open in November of this year, and in order to be able to get a project that would solve the safety issue at the intersection we’re talking about, we need to have plans prepared by the end of April,” he said. “There’s a significant amount of effort and time that’s required to be able to get that kind of temporary improvement completed.”

A date for a public forum was not set Thursday.

The intersection is in the KDOT right-of-way, City Planning Director Scott McCullough explained, and KDOT officials are merely seeking input from the community and governing bodies before deciding on a plan.

“The negative vibe I’m sensing … KDOT isn’t the enemy,” McCullough said. “Our relationship with KDOT is very good, and we have very good products and outcomes with our friends at the state.”