Kansas Turnpike sets record for most-traveled summer season
The Kansas Turnpike just had its biggest summer ever.
Traffic was up more than 6 percent, the “most-traveled summer season” in the turnpike’s nearly 60-year history, officials said Thursday.
Lower fuel prices no doubt played a part, said Steve Hewitt, CEO of the Kansas Turnpike Authority.
July saw an 8 percent increase in traffic from 2014, with 3.5 million vehicles using the roadway, the most ever in one month. Friday through Monday of Labor Day weekend, the end of the summer travel season, notched an 8.5 percent increase from the 2014 holiday weekend.
“We know our customers use the roadway because they have important places to go,” Hewitt said in a news release. “This increase tells us great things are happening in Kansas. Thanks in part to the lower fuel prices, people are traveling more.”
The Kansas Turnpike includes stretches of highway from the Kansas City area to Topeka on Interstate 70 and from Topeka to south of Wichita on Interstates 335 and 35.
To reach Edward M. Eveld, call 816-234-4442 or send email to eeveld@kcstar.com. Twitter: @eeveld.
This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 11:14 AM with the headline "Kansas Turnpike sets record for most-traveled summer season."