Kansas wants to hear from the public on huge road projects

Five months into a massive highway improvement project in Johnson County, the Kansas Department of Transportation is asking people how they want to be kept informed of lane closures and other developments.

An online survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/JCGCommunications will remain open for public input through Friday.

The survey asks what people most want to know about the $288 million Johnson County Gateway project and how they would prefer to receive that information.

The Gateway project is KDOT’s largest ever and is intended to address traffic problems and improve efficiency and safety within the Interstate 435/Interstate 35/Kansas 10 interchange, which is used by more than 230,000 vehicles a day.

The project anticipates future traffic volumes of 380,000 vehicles a day. Making sure transportation arteries keep up with that demand is important for economic growth.

The current phase of the Gateway project is scheduled to be substantially completed by the end of 2016.

KDOT posts regular updates at www.jocogateway.com and on Facebook and Twitter, and it also offers email and text updates.

One key piece of the Gateway project will be diverging diamond interchanges, such as the one that opened last week on Roe Avenue and I-435. Other diverging diamonds are planned for Kansas 10 and Ridgeview Road and for 95th Street and I-35.

Clarkson Construction Co. is the primary contractor for the Gateway project, which is funded with federal money and a state sales tax.

This story was originally published November 6, 2014 at 9:02 AM with the headline "Kansas wants to hear from the public on huge road projects."