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FORT SCOTT —
Crawford and Bourbon counties have known for several years about the plans to build a four-lane U.S. Highway 69 from Fort Scott to Arma. They’ve also known many of the in-progress details about both that stretch and the four-lane expressway around Arma being called the Arma Connection.
But some of the impacts of those plans were discussed Friday at a media tour of the planned alignment.
One of those impacts will be in the proposed Arma Connection, which would involve laying down two lanes of highway directly parallel to the existing U.S. 69 as it travels from 680th Avenue to the intersection with Kansas Highway 47 south of Franklin. This project is not funded at this time, and current estimates are close to $18 million.
One of the new impacts of this project will be on Ninth Street in Arma. When the new lanes are laid to the east of the current road, Ninth Street in Arma will be quite close to the expressway.
Kansas Department of Transportation project manager James Dietzel said that the project is still in the design phase (the only phase of the Arma Connection that has funding, to this point). But current plans would involve a raised median between the northbound lanes of U.S. 69 and Ninth Street. Furthermore, KDOT prefers to have a certain amount of space, and may require closing the ends of the road that empty off onto Perry and South streets, with local access to Ninth Street provided by Main, Washington, and other local streets.
However, that was not the only potential change or impact.
The Arma to Fort Scott piece, which is funded for roughly $47 million in construction through T-WORKS, will be built as an upgradeable expressway. This means building the road as an expressway (similar to the Frontenac-Arma portion now) but with right of way purchased for future expansion to a freeway (similar to the Fort Scott-Louisburg portion).
As an upgradeable expressway, the two new lanes in this section would be placed to the east of the current road. Although one official said, “It could be 30+ years away” before the funds are available to upgrade that section to a freeway, the design is being done now for a freeway so that the right amount of right of way can be purchased.
As part of those design plans, three interchanges are planned along this stretch when it becomes a freeway: at Eagle Road, at 710th Avenue and at 680th Avenue.
Furthermore, the proposed intersection at 710th Avenue would use the existing hill just to the north of the current intersection to help mitigate the cost of potential earthwork.
Crawford and Bourbon counties have known for several years about the plans to build a four-lane U.S. Highway 69 from Fort Scott to Arma. They’ve also known many of the in-progress details about both that stretch and the four-lane expressway around Arma being called the Arma Connection.
But some of the impacts of those plans were discussed Friday at a media tour of the planned alignment.
One of those impacts will be in the proposed Arma Connection, which would involve laying down two lanes of highway directly parallel to the existing U.S. 69 as it travels from 680th Avenue to the intersection with Kansas Highway 47 south of Franklin. This project is not funded at this time, and current estimates are close to $18 million.
One of the new impacts of this project will be on Ninth Street in Arma. When the new lanes are laid to the east of the current road, Ninth Street in Arma will be quite close to the expressway.
Kansas Department of Transportation project manager James Dietzel said that the project is still in the design phase (the only phase of the Arma Connection that has funding, to this point). But current plans would involve a raised median between the northbound lanes of U.S. 69 and Ninth Street. Furthermore, KDOT prefers to have a certain amount of space, and may require closing the ends of the road that empty off onto Perry and South streets, with local access to Ninth Street provided by Main, Washington, and other local streets.
However, that was not the only potential change or impact.
The Arma to Fort Scott piece, which is funded for roughly $47 million in construction through T-WORKS, will be built as an upgradeable expressway. This means building the road as an expressway (similar to the Frontenac-Arma portion now) but with right of way purchased for future expansion to a freeway (similar to the Fort Scott-Louisburg portion).
As an upgradeable expressway, the two new lanes in this section would be placed to the east of the current road. Although one official said, “It could be 30+ years away” before the funds are available to upgrade that section to a freeway, the design is being done now for a freeway so that the right amount of right of way can be purchased.
As part of those design plans, three interchanges are planned along this stretch when it becomes a freeway: at Eagle Road, at 710th Avenue and at 680th Avenue.
Furthermore, the proposed intersection at 710th Avenue would use the existing hill just to the north of the current intersection to help mitigate the cost of potential earthwork.
Most of the east-west roads that currently cross U.S. 69 would be closed off, but some would be turned into bridges that pass over U.S. 69. KDOT said they were considering such bridges (which would not have access to U.S. 69) at 700th and 720th Avenues in Crawford County, as well as at Cavalry Road in Bourbon County.
As for the overview of the projects, each stands in various stages:
• The Arma to Fort Scott section is funded, but as an upgradeable expressway. It is expected to be field checked (50 percent design) in July 2014, with right of way acquisition after that. Construction would be put up for bids in July 2017, and would take roughly two years.
• Turning that same section into a freeway, with interchanges, bridges and more access roads is not funded at this time. Current estimates put that decades down the line and would be expected to cost tens of millions of dollars.
• The Arma Connection is also not funded at this time. “We currently have the funds to design to the field check. At that point, KDOT will determine a more accurate cost on that design. We will then ask the executive staff if they can find the funding to do this part of U.S. 69,” Dietzel said. However, current plans are to tie that project in with the Arma-Fort Scott upgradeable expressway construction at the end of the decade. Current estimates on this project are roughly $18 million.
• The ultimate goal in Crawford County is a bypass that starts at 680th Avenue north of Arma and ends south of Pittsburg at the Crawford-Cherokee county line. This project is estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars and is not likely to be funded or started for several decades.
Andrew Nash can be reached at andrew.nash@morningsun.net or by calling 231-2600 ext. 140.
