This story is part of an ongoing series, Powering Change: Panasonic and De Soto. If you'd like to share your excitement or concerns about the electric vehicle battery plant, you can do so here.
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The development of Panasonic in De Soto has brought funding for local schools, more business downtown and traffic.
“Traffic, without a doubt. There's a lot more people coming and going,” said Charles Miller, who lives in De Soto.
Thousands of workers travel K-10 and De Soto roads to get to the plant each day. That traffic is an unwelcome side effect for some neighbors.
“The truck traffic is out by me, which makes it a little more difficult because we're just country roads,” Miller said. “I mean, we're not dirt roads, by any means, but, I mean, we're not double-wide roads here.”
De Soto Mayor Rick Walker has heard these concerns.
"Largely, the concerns I've heard most often have to do with traffic or concerns about what traffic might be like,” Walker said.
The city and KDOT have already expanded what were once country roads by the plant.
“We've got three interchanges where we've had improvements," Walker said. “Then, our road improvements between the interchanges to the Panasonic or the Astra Enterprise Park, so that those workers can efficiently get in and out.”
Walker said the biggest traffic challenge is rush hour in the afternoon.
“We've got 3,500 construction workers that are leaving at 4:30 on an afternoon, and it does create a bit of a backup for 20 minutes or half an hour,” he said.
Local road improvements near Panasonic wrapped up last year. A spokesperson said, “One of the major goals of the improvements was to handle projected traffic growth in the surrounding area, including the K-10 corridor.”
KDOT is now planning a K-10 Capacity Improvement Project stretching from Lenexa to De Soto. They attribute the need for this project to growth to the west.
As Panasonic nears its opening, Walker hopes employee shift work at the plant will reduce the traffic seen now, noting K-10 changes are something to watch for in the future.
"We'll look to implement a project to improve the safety and capacity of that road in and out of De Soto in the upcoming years,” Walker said.
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KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.