BASEHOR, Kan. — The city of Basehor, Kansas, is sponsoring a petition to reduce the speed limit along US-24/US-40 Highway from 142nd Street to 171st Street from 65 miles per hour to 50 miles per hour.
It's not the first time the city has asked the Kansas Department of Transportation to consider reducing the speed limit along this highway, which is bordered on each side by two 50-mile-per-hour speed limit signs.
The city requested KDOT conduct an engineering study, which is the first step changing a posted speed limit on a state highway.
The study, conducted in June 2024, covered US-24/40 from 142nd Street to 166th Street within Basehor’s city limits.
A speed study was a part of the overall engineering study, and speed was collected at locations from 142nd to 166th street.
According to KDOT’s findings, the 85th percentile free-flow speed was found to be between 65 and 70.2 miles per hour.
This means KDOT determined the existing speed limit was appropriate for the roadway and roadway context, and the new speed limit did not get the green light Basehor hoped for.
"KDOT continues to monitor the US-24/US-40 corridor and is committed to revisiting the recent engineering study with a follow-up study when additional development or other significant changes occur within the study limits," a KDOT spokesperson wrote via email.
While KDOT found the speed satisfactory, the city did not.
"We have nothing against KDOT, we just disagree on this one item," said Richard Drennon, the mayor of Basehor.
The report, which KSHB 41 obtained a copy of, includes a Safety Analysis Summary, which compares local crash rates to the statewide averages.
Crash rates represent crashes per million entering vehicles (mev) for intersections and per million vehicle miles (mvm) for segments, according to KDOT's study.
A critical crash rate is a value used to determine if a location's crash rate is higher than an expected rate.
If the study location's crash rate is higher than the critical crash rate, KDOT says that's an indicator there may be a safety concern. If it's at or less than the critical crash rate, it implies the rate doesn't differ much from the statewide average rate.
According to the study, there were 99 total crashes from 2018-2022 along US-24/40 from 142nd Street to 166th Street.
"The citizens of this town deserve better," Drennon said. "If we can save — in the next five years — one life, it's all worth it. I think we're going to save a lot more lives by lowering the speed limit."
The study split the stretch up into intersections: US-24/US-40 and 142nd, 150th, 155th, 158th and 166th.
None of those locations were above the critical rate — except for two: 155th Street and the whole 142nd to 166th segment.
KSHB 41 visited the 155th and State intersection Tuesday and saw at least two cars get pulled over along that stretch from speeding.
Drennon's memories there are a bit more traumatizing.
"It’s affected me big time," Drennon said. "I had a procedure done Friday on my heart due to the wreck."
He and his wife were t-boned at the 155th and State intersection in October 2024. His grandson was also involved in an accident at 158th and State where he was hit by a dump truck full of gravel.
"This is not only just personal for my family, but it’s personal for the whole city of Basehor," Drennon said.
The City of Basehor says since then, it knows of nine accidents on this highway since Drennon's accident in October.
"We've actually been trying to get the speed limit lowered for 17 years," Drennon said.
He sat on the city council before he was mayor and says this topic came up often.
It's why he says he hosted an informational meeting with over 40 community leaders and four Basehor-Linwood High School students, who gave personal accounts about their experiences with the US-24/US-40 and 155th Street intersection.
Amy McKissick works at the high school and raised her children in Basehor.
"When our kids started driving, that road was the reason that we got Life360, so that we could track them on the way to school and see that they made it," McKissick said. "It's a dangerous stretch and a fast-paced road."
But the toughest road McKissick’s travelled isn't this highway, it's grief.
"Losing Chy, we lost a part of our world that day," McKissick said.
McKissick says Cheyenne Branson was like her second daughter before Branson was killed by a drunk driver on Highway 24 in November 2022.
Branson was on her way to Oskaloosa, Kansas, when she was hit.
"He was going, they assume, 75-plus [miles per hour] because of the damages," said Christina Branson, Cheyenne’s mother. KSHB 41's Caroline Hogan spoke with her in December 2024.
McKissick says speeding, coupled with other bad driving habits, can result in fatal outcomes like Cheyenne's.
It's why she has mixed feelings about the city's petition.
"It's not really a speed limit problem anymore, it's more of a people problem," McKissick said. "People don’t slow down, they don’t pay attention."
Distracted driving becomes a crime quickly.
If highway patrol or the sheriff's office does the arrest, Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson's office gets involved.
"We can look at speeding, we can look at DUI, driving while suspended, you know, inattentive driving, any of those things," Thompson said.
As someone who lives and works in the area, Thompson says it’s only a matter of time before Basehor’s slogan, "and still growing," manifests.
"We can see that in the next year or so, there's just going to be even more growth, which means more traffic, which means more concern," Thompson said.
One of the major developments coming to town in March 2025 is Fareway Meat & Grocery, which will sit on the north side of the highway between 155th and 158th Street.
In the June 2024 KDOT report, one of the comments regarding the development says "the city is wanting the speed limit lowered so a new access point could be built on the highway for the development."
The following comment says "it is recommend the new development utilizes the road to the north that was designed and built for the existing developments to access the highway via the traffic signals at 155th Street and 158th Street."
"We're concerned there's going to be a lot more traffic there," Drennon said. "We're just afraid there’s going to even be more accidents. W'’re never going to stop everything, if we lower it 15 miles an hour or 30 miles an hour. There's going to still be accidents, but we’re hoping to reduce the accidents."
According to Drennon, safety was the primary motivation behind wanting the speed limit reduced.
When asked to address concerns about the city using a speed limit reduction to enforce more traffic stops and collect more money for tickets, he denied that claim.
"That’s not true," Drennon said. "We try to educate drivers as they come through our town, but where does it stop at? If we need to start giving tickets, maybe that will help too, but we are going to watch them very closely. It's not that we're trying to raise money for the city, or anything like that, we feel like it's just a life-saving event."
Drennon said Basehor has a good working relationship with KDOT, but that he's considering taking the petition to a third party state entity like a senator or governor if this issue remains unresolved.
"We plan to keep working with KDOT, we just have a different opinion on what the speed limit should be," Drennon said. "We'd just like somebody else to maybe rule and see if they’re wrong, or we’re right or vice versa."
As of Tuesday, the petition has only been live for five, days so the mayor says the city plans to leave it open for more people to sign.
So far, there are 500 signatures, and Drennon says they have no target number.
A KDOT spokesperson added, "posted speed limits are not impacted by petitions."
"Once this gets done, I know there’s people on Facebook saying that are saying, 'We need turn lanes,' but we have to start somewhere, and maybe eventually down the road, we can add turn lanes too," Drennon said.
Drennon added that the city is willing to pay for any signage necessary to indicate a speed limit change so neither KDOT nor drivers will have to take a financial hit.
McKissick says she's open to any solution that stops grief from traveling any further.
"I would hate to have another family lose a member from a senseless accident," she said.
The petition is now available online at this link, on the city's website or in-person at Basehor City Hall.
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