In 30 years or more, Kansas officials may have the engineering work, the environmental studies, the right-of-way access and most importantly, the funding, in place to begin work on expanding U.S. 400/69 highway in Cherokee County to four lanes.
But Thursday night, the dream of completing a four-lane U.S. 400/69 through Cherokee County took the first major step toward reality. The U.S. 400/69 Advisory Committee made its choice of a preferred corridor for the future four-lane road.
The committee is recommending a corridor that runs roughly one mile west of the current road, which connects roughly from the Crawford County/Cherokee County line to Interstate 44. The corridor also swings west before connecting with the current site where U.S. 400 splits from U.S. 69. The westward swing starts north of Quakervale and goes west of the Brush Creek Bridge before turning back eastward.
The study was performed by George Butler Associates, and attempted to quantify several aspects of the roughly 12 options for the corridor.
Several of the corridor possibilities included an eastward swing, taking the corridor between Riverton and Galena. However, these possibilities were rejected by the study officials, as they would have required two major bridge crossings, rather than the one bridge needed by the westward swing.
A series of 10 criteria were identified by George Butler Associates: constructability, environmental impact, stakeholder impact, estimated construction cost, socio-economic impacts, additional right of way needed, potential cultivated farmland impact, utility relocation, potential business relocations and potential residential relocations.
George Butler Associates then used its own ranking of those factors and the rankings of the advisory committee to weigh the criteria, with each corridor option given quantifiable rankings for each criterion.
Based on the weighted rankings, three final corridor options emerged: the westward corridor ultimately selected, a corridor based on the current road that swings westward into the intersection where U.S. 400 splits off, and a corridor that follows along the path of the current road.
The westward corridor ranked the best according to GBA's rankings.
The final two options had a large drawback, according to Clarence Munsch, GBA. Munsch said these two options faced large costs associated with environmental impacts, notably the reclamation of strip mines near the existing highway. These two options also have a high number of potential residential relocations. The westward option largely avoids these costs.
Ultimately, the advisory committee not only agreed with GBA, but said they had already heard from several county residents who preferred the western route.
"It makes a lot of sense," said Dale Oglesby, Galena mayor and advisory committee member. "If they put the freeway along 69, it will cut the folks that live there off at the knees. By doing it one mile west, it's logistically a whole lot better on people in the county."
Kansas Department of Transportation officials said that if the corridor was based on the current road, the current road would be used as a frontage road.
Ultimately, Munsch said that people that live near either the current or proposed corridor shouldn't change their plans yet. At best guess, KDOT would not begin on the project for roughly 30 years, and only then if it has the funding secured. The westward corridor is estimated at $242.2 million, and is likely to cost more than that.
"Folks that live there should conduct their lives as they would have, “Munsch said. "This is the planned corridor, but there is no funding to it. If you want to live here, live here. There's no need to sell off your property or anything."
GBA will take the recommended corridor to local officials before hosting a public meeting about the corridor in late April or early May.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 132.
