KDOT shares safety concerns with K-10/Kasold Drive intersection during open house on changes

photo by: Nick Krug

Motorists along East 1200 Road approach a stop sign at an intersection that connects East 1200 Road and the South Lawrence Trafficway just south of the Kasold curve on Tuesday, March 29, 2016.

At a Kansas Department of Transportation open house Wednesday on four options being considered for the Kansas Highway 10/Kasold Drive intersection, Jo Unruh said she preferred no change.

By no change, Unruh didn’t mean one of the options being considered, which is to leave as is the K-10 intersection that serves Kasold Drive to the north and East 1200 Road to the south.

The retired resident of 30th Street just north of the highway meant no change in the highway’s traffic volume, something she knows is coming with the opening this fall of the South Lawrence Trafficway. She learned at the open house that after the opening, traffic at the Kasold Drive intersection is expected to increase from 8,100 vehicles a day to 16,800.

Unruh accepts that this will force change at the Kasold Drive intersection she uses four times a week.

“I don’t think that’s even possible,” she said of the intersection’s no-change option. Her preferred alternative is installing a traffic light at the intersection.

KDOT estimates the cost of a traffic signal at the intersection at $70,000 or $170,000, depending on the type. The other two options being considered are closing the intersection or limiting access to and from the highway to right-on, right-off at an estimated cost of $1.2 to $1.5 million.

Information KDOT shared at Wednesday’s open house at the First United Methodist Church West Campus supported Unruh’s opinion there were safety issues with the no-change option. KDOT predicts that leaving the intersection alone would increase the number of crashes there, especially those of the T-bone variety. Highway department engineers also predict it would encourage “risky behavior” as drivers from the north and south grew impatient while waiting to cross or gain access to the highway. On the upside, the option maintains access to county destinations to the south and city destinations to the north and has no cost.

Julie DeYoung, of 1041 North 800 Road, said her preferred option of building an overpass at the intersection wasn’t among those being considered. Among those that were, she favored the no-change option.

“KDOT’s priority is maintaining unimpeded traffic flow, not safety,” she said.

The SLT’s construction has eliminated three former access points to Lawrence from the south, she said. Closing East 1200 Road would force her and her husband to use East 900 Road over Clinton Dam or County Road 458 to U.S. Highway 59 when driving into Lawrence, she said.

KDOT concedes closing access from East 1200 Road to K-10 would increase traffic on CR 458 and would install a traffic signal at the U.S. Highway 59/CR 458 intersection at the estimated cost of $270,000 if that was the chosen option.

Standing in the middle of the presentation room at about 6 p.m., Ryan Barrett, KDOT project manager for the K-10 west leg, said he was happy with attendance. About 100 people signed in during its first hour.

“I’ve heard a little bit in favor of every option,” he said. “I think people understand the safety concern. They are also interested in convenience and access.”

As for KDOT, safety was the overriding concern, but balanced with considerations of traffic flow, cost and access, Barrett said.

Frank Male, who successfully lobbied the Douglas County Commission and Lawrence City Commission to write letters in support of keeping the intersection open, said KDOT still didn’t grasp how many people in the southwest parts of Lawrence and Douglas County depended on the intersection.

Male, who has a nursery near East 1200 Road, supports a traffic signal as the best solution to maintain that access. Keeping the Kasold Drive intersection open would also help keep traffic manageable on Iowa Street once the SLT opens by providing an alternative for those driving to and from southwest Lawrence neighborhoods, he said.


This story has been edited to correct the name of the church hosting the meeting. The open house took place at First United Methodist Church West Campus, 867 U.S. 40.