DE SOTO, Kans. — In De Soto, Kansas, city staff have been concerned about a corridor for years.
The route, an east-west connection in northwest Johnson County, often a commuter’s choice over K10.
For months, city staff has been planning and proposing changes to the 83rd Street corridor, listening to community feedback.
On Wednesday night, the city brought forward their final recommendation for the corridor to an open house community feedback night at the De Soto Senior Center.
“This is the preferred alternative route, it’s important to understand this is a planning level study, we’re looking at transportation projections going out to 2050 and we’re trying to guess what traffic volume levels will be at that time,” said City Administrator Mike Brundgardt.
City Administrator Mike Brundgardt said with Panasonic coming concerns over the corridor are heightened, so city staff is projecting traffic volumes and with it a change in De Soto’s landscape.
“We need people to understand we are thinking about this we know, we are already seeing impacts, traffic increased, construction activities already increased, people are waiting longer at intersections,” said Mike Brungardt, City Administrator. “Drivers are seeing it and we see it as well.”
Brungardt said he’s used those projections to then establish what type of transportation corridor De Soto could need to accommodate the future traffic and how it impacts existing properties and business.
He says tonight’s showcase was a combination of a construction recommendation of “the higher level boulevard in the more urban area and a three-lane section in the more rural areas of town.”
Stacy King is potentially facing the construction of a three-lane section of road in front of her home.
“I see my front yard being taken," King said. "We have an acre-and-a-half of land, and according to that plan, a three-lane option is going to take 22 feet of my yard. We moved out here for land and now we have a road. "It's very discouraging. We just built our house three years ago and this is not what we expected at all.”
Brungardt said it's important to establish what’s ultimately going to be needed along the corridor so that we can start to plan as new developments occur as new businesses pop up and homes get built.
He also told those in attendance the plan is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars and the city will include that in their capital improvement plans.
“We’re not going to do it all at once, and De Soto can’t pay for it all by ourselves," Brungardt said. "We need the help of local, state, and federal dollars."
He said the project is expected to take decades to complete.
“This is one small milestone in many that will be needed to construct this corridor," Brungardt said. "It will be decades to fully construct this corridor."
City officials say they will present the final option to council members in July.
An engineering feasibility study will take at least one year.
To find out more about the project:
Here's the 83rdStLexingtonAve_CorridorStudy_Boards_FINAL.pdf [acrobat.adobe.com]
Here's the 83RD & LEXINGTON ROLL PLOTS.pdf [acrobat.adobe.com]
