Overland Park has the most congested 4-lane road in Kansas. But can the state help?

Anyone who has driven U.S. 69 in Overland Park knows rush hour traffic is getting worse and the chance of accidents more prevalent.

In fact, it’s the most congested four-lane highway in Kansas, with 80,000 vehicles per day.

So Overland Park leaders are urgently appealing to the state for highway funds to help widen U.S. 69 to six lanes from I-435 south to 159th Street.

“This by far is the No. 1 project that will keep the economic impact coming to the state and to the city of Overland Park,” Mayor Carl Gerlach told members of a joint legislative transportation task force meeting Thursday. The room was packed with leaders from Johnson County’s biggest communities, all pitching their most important transportation needs for the next decade.

Lenexa wants money for a K-10 and Lone Elm Road interchange, along with improvements on I-435. Olathe wants interchange upgrades at I-35 and 119th Street. And Gardner needs help to stop all the accidents near I-35 and Gardner Road.

But those needs collectively amount to hundreds of millions of dollars, in a state that borrowed more than $2 billion from its highway fund during the Brownback administration and must pay that money back. The state projects it will need to spend $600 million annually in the next few years just to cover road preservation and unfinished T-Works projects, which are part of a 10-year Kansas transportation program adopted in 2010.

The task force has held listening sessions all across the state and begins deliberating late this month on a recommendation to take to the next Legislative session. It hopes to providing a funding and priorities outline for the next 10 years, not a shopping list of projects.

There’s no guarantee any of the Johnson County projects can be covered.

“We have great needs all across the state,” said state Sen. Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, who is co-chairman of the task force. Rural areas of western Kansas are dealing with increased truck traffic. And Wichita needs help for I-35, its gateway to a corridor that runs to the Gulf of Mexico.

But McGinn recognized that Johnson County is a thriving area for the state and also needs attention.

“We have to look at their growth needs,” she said.

Gerlach told the group that Overland Park recognizes “the tight money situation,” so that’s why it’s just identifying one project for help. But the cost of that project alone is projected at $200 million.

Overland Park City Manager Bill Ebel pointed out that the U.S. 69 highway corridor in Overland Park is already a big economic engine for the state, generating $500 million per year in private investment. He said the city has already started to do its part, spending $61 million of city funds alone for infrastructure along the U.S. 69 corridor.

Ebel said the state already spends $2 million per year just to maintain U.S. 69, but by 2025 that will not be sufficient to avoid serious decay and deterioration.

“U.S. 69 itself is getting older. It’s at its 50-year life which really means it’s met its useful life,” Ebel said. “The congestion is increasing to the point where crash rates are above statewide averages and are starting to pose a safety consideration.”

In written testimony, Overland Park chamber and business leaders vigorously pitched the project.

Ken Block, with Block Real Estate Services, said in a letter that his company manages the Corporate Woods Office Park and is developing City Place, both along U.S. 69.

“As U.S. 69 becomes more crowded, more susceptible to dangerous and damaging accidents, and a bigger drag on commute times for our employees and clients, quality of life suffers,” he wrote. “It is critical that the expansion of U.S. 69 be completed promptly to ensure continued successful development.”

Other key Johnson County projects include:

▪ Lenexa. Blake Schreck, Lenexa Chamber president, told the task force that the city could lose a federal grant earmarked for K-10 and Lone Elm if the project doesn’t also get state funds. He said the interchange would support nearly 350 acres of regional commercial development.

“The western two-thirds of our community, which borders K-10, constitutes the largest area for forecasted growth between 2010 and 2040,” Schreck said.

▪ Olathe. The city is seeking help for the $24 million interchange improvements at I-35 and 119th Street. In written testimony, Olathe officials said it’s one of the busiest interchanges in the Kansas City region, has a crash rate 11 times the national average, and has a current layout that is inadequate.

▪ Gardner. In written testimony, Gardner officials said the city needs help with the I-35 and Gardner Road interchange, which now serves the huge Logistics Park warehouse and distribution district. Between 2015 and 2017, city officials said, accidents have increased 330 percent in the vicinity.

Ebel suggested one way the state can tackle these challenges is by partnering with cities and private developers to share the costs. He said Overland Park and the Price Brothers development company partnered with the state on the U.S. 69 interchange at 159th Street, which helped with the $500 million Bluhawk mixed-use development now emerging in that location.