DE SOTO, Kan. — The development of Panasonic in De Soto has brought funding for local schools, more business downtown, and also - traffic.
“Traffic without a doubt, there's, 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 like Charles Miller.
“The truck traffic is out by me, which makes it a little more difficult, because we're just country roads,” said Miller. “I mean, we're, we're not dirt roads by any means. But, I mean, we're not, 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,” said Rick Walker, De Soto Mayor.
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," said Mayor Walker. “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.”
The biggest traffic challenge, according to Mayor Walker, 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 hour,” said Mayor Walker.
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, Mayor Walker hopes that employee shift work at the plant will reduce the traffic they’re seeing now, and says that 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,” said Mayor Walker.
KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
