Debate brews over proposed interchange at K-10 and Lone Elm in Johnson County

KSHB 41 Traffic anchor/reporter Daniela Leon covers all sorts of transportation topics across Kansas City. Have a story idea to share or a question about something in your neighborhood? Send Daniela a news tip.

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Residents in Olathe and Lenexa will have a chance Thursday to voice their concerns over a potential new interchange at Kansas Highway 10 and Lone Elm Road in western Johnson County.

Whitney Royer is one of those homeowners and lives by Lone Elm, a road she and her family use every day.

"We love this area; It's so walkable, bikeable, and we feel safe sending our kids out to ride their bikes along the streets," Royer said.

Alexis Guetzlaff also lives in Lenexa and routinely uses Lone Elm to take her kids to school.

"I've lived in Lenexa for 11 years," Guetzlaff said. "We love everything about where we live."

But they both fear a proposed interchange at Lone Elm and K10 will impact their day-to-day routines, mainly due to its proximity to schools and other learning institutions.

A Google Maps search shows multiple schools surrounding the proposed intersection. To the north is Manchester Park Elementary School and to the south before College Boulevard is Olathe Northwest High School, Prairie Trail Middle School, Meadow Lane Elementary School and Prairie Learning Center.

"As parents, we're greatly concerned that our children are going to be walking, biking, maybe driving to school and crossing traffic with semi trucks," Royer said. "If you put an interchange here, you're now mixing student traffic with commercial traffic."

Both Royer and Guetzlaff strongly oppose the interchange and have started a Facebook group to alert other neighbors about this topic and a Change.org petition, which has been signed by hundreds of people. The petition also prompted an online engagement from city leaders in both Olathe and Lenexa urging signers to attend the upcoming April 10th public meeting.

"We are sharing information, organizing and letting people know when meetings are coming up and opportunities to speak, because the biggest thing that I find when I speak to people is that they're surprised that this is being proposed," Guetzlaff says.

Daniela Leon/KSHB

Both Royer and Guetzlaff believe an overpass along K-10 and Lone Elm would be a better alternative to connect both Olathe and Lenexa.

The proposed interchange is part of the Kansas Department of Transportation's long-term K-10 Corridor Capacity Improvements Project, a $1 billion+ project aimed at making improvements along K-10 from Douglas County through Johnson County.

In an email to KSHB41, a KDOT spokesperson says the interchange was selected as a preferred alternative because it would improve operations for the area roadway network as a whole and would distribute area traffic more evenly serving as an additional highway access point. The KDOT spokesperson said the project can be designed to accommodate all users including pedestrians and bicycles.

Traffic on the K-10 corridor through Johnson County has seen a steady increase in recent years with more on the way. The following data was provided by KDOT and includes a projected increase in traffic which is measured by evaluating the average vehicles per day on the roadway, for all days of the week over a period of one year.

The KDOT spokesperson told KSHB 41 News that they studied the option of having an overpass but said it failed to meet regional traffic demands. They also shared the proposed interchange has the fewest number of residential properties that will see an increase in traffic and requires fewer unplanned local street improvements. K-DOT says the interchange on Lone Elm Rd, will see an increase in traffic and would impact about 22 properties, without the interchange the agency says traffic will continue to increase on Woodland Rd., Prairie Star Pkwy., and 101^st St., and impact over 120+ properties.

"An overpass made so much more sense, we all thought that that's the way the project would go," said Guetzlaff.

Last December, the Olathe City Council sent a letter to KDOT supporting the expansion of K-10 but called the transportation agency's attention to safety concerns surrounding school zones and student safety around the proposed interchange.

In that same letter the City of Olathe, called out KDOT for prioritizing economic development in Lenexa over safety issues and asked KDOT to take responsibility for costs necessary to correct these concerns and mitigating semi-truck traffic.

Daniela Leon/KSHB

According to city documents, Lenexa has allocated more than $11 million the interchange as part of their2025–2029 Capital Improvement Program

KSHB41 reached out to Olathe and Lenexa for a comment but both cities referred us to KDOT. When asked if KDOT had responded to Olathe's email, a spokesperson gave the following response.

"KDOT is in regular communication with elected officials and staff from the Cities of Olathe, Lenexa, and De Soto and Johnson County about the K-10 Corridor project, including K-10/Lone Elm Rd. The project team remains available to address inquiries about the project’s impact."

"It's really frustrating, as a Lenexa resident, that our city council keeps pushing for it, despite a majority of the residents being strongly opposed to this," Royer stated.

The project is not a done deal and KDOT says their agency will continue to gather input from resource agencies and the public on proposed solutions for the K-10 Corridor. The next step involves the completion of an Environmental Assessment (EA) which is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), followed by a final review by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) which, depending on their response, will allow the project to move forward into the design phase.

The K-10 Corridor Capacity Improvements Project Public Meeting on the Lone Elm Road Interchange will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday,  April 10, at the K-State Olathe Innovation Campus (Auditorium), 22201 W. Innovation DriveOlathe, Kansas 66061

There will be two sessions following a presentation from KDOT.

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