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The Johnson County Gateway Study I-435/I-35/K-10 is mentioned in the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Report: Case for Capacity: To Unlock Gridlock, Generate Jobs, Deliver Freight and Connect Communities.

Reader’s Digest has ranked Kansas highways #1 in the nation. KDOT had three Governors and four former Transportation Secretaries at a chilly news conference this morning to celebrate the news. Governors Hayden, Graves and Parkinson all remarked that this accomplishment was possible because of the investments Kansans were willing to make in their transportation system. As Gov. Hayden said, “These roads aren’t free and they’re not cheap.” They also pointed out that if we want our system to remain in good condition, additional funding is necessary. The timing couldn’t be better as the Senate Transportation Committee is holding hearings this week on T-WORKS, the name given to the future transportation program.

Please click here to watch a video from Monday morning’s event

As part of our recent online survey we received a few comments and suggestions on the study. I will be posting them here in the days to come. “I am a BIG FAN of longer exit ramps to clean up 95th Street going north and on 119th and Santa Fe going south. They are dangerous, especially the mess going into Olathe around 4:30-6:15 pm each day. I feel it is far too dangerous because people trying to get off are forced to PARK on the highway and often are rear-ended.”
Response: That is a good comment and suggestion. Longer ramps will be part of the improved concept and it is likely that some of those suggestions will be part of an interim improvement project as well. As the design engineers get further into the details of the design we will have more information to share.

In order to gather additional information from commuters and regional users of the I-435/I-35/K-10 Interchange, we are conducting focus groups to talk about specific issues surrounding the interchange. We are working with ETC Institute , to randomly recruit and invite people who use the interchange frequently to attend and provide their thoughts and opinions on transportation issues related to the improvement of the area. So far two focus groups have been completed and participants were glad to know that KDOT is studying ways to improve the interchange. The input from the focus groups will help the study team understand the most important issues to commuters as work continues on the improvement concepts.

There have been a number of comments that suggest adding more lanes in each direction will help with the congestion and traffic flow. Other suggestions such as construct auxiliary lanes on I-35 from I-435 to 119th Street.
Good news: adding additional lanes, including auxiliary lanes on I-35 from I-435 to 119th Street will most likely be included as part of the final design improvement concept.
Though there are still a number of steps to complete before we are able to build anything. After this study is concluded, the environmental documentation process and final design of the roadway will need to be completed and funding will have to be identified for construction.

Another comment from an earlier post that is best addressed during this phase: “Honestly, with lots of wasted time every day to consider better options, finding alternatives for increased traffic exiting off I-35 would speed the whole interchange. Why were no exits at 127th or College Blvd overpasses planned for?”

Thanks for the question. As part of the Johnson County Gateway: I-435/I-35/K-10 Interchange Study, the study boundaries are 119th on I-35, so the study team has reviewed potential options for an interchange at College Blvd, but does not consider it viable. An interchange at College Blvd. would be cost prohibitive because of the adjacent railroad, several buildings and Lackman Road. Further, College Blvd. is very close to the I-35/I-435 and I-35/119th Street interchanges. To promote safety and mobility, KDOT perfers interchange spacing of at least one mile.

As far as 127th Street goes, it is out of the scope and boundaries of this study. In reviewing the long range transportation plan for Olathe, the overpass at 127th Street was completed in 2006 and there are no current plans to convert it to an interchange with access to I-35.

The web site has been up since late February and while we had some initial comments and discussion posted on the blog, lately we haven’t had any. We want to you to ask questions about the interchange area, transportation or just provide your thoughts.
The study team is currently working on alternatives to improve traffic congestion and we will be ready to share those options later in August and September.
Hope to hear from you!

If you missed the opportunity to attend the May 14, 2009 public meeting, please visit our online public meeting. It provides an opportunity to view the information presented plus ask questions on any of the information. At the end there is a quick survey on the online meeting format, so please provide us with feedback so we can make the tool more useful.

Welcome to the Johnson County Gateway Interchange Study web site and blog. KDOT is launching its first ever project blog in order to have an interactive dialog about transportation issues in the I-435/I-35/K-10 project area. The purpose of this project blog will be to provide on-going information about the status of the project and respond to questions and concerns. We will be posting updates frequently and will work to respond to questions as quickly as possible. In some cases, questions may require more research and consultation with others, but we’ll do our best to keep you informed.

The posts on this blog will be written by KDOT staff and the consultant team hired by KDOT to complete the study. Posts will be written by engineers, planners and communications staff in order to address relevant topics to the study.

Blog etiquette includes the standard: no profanity, those posts will be filtered. In general, all posts will be shown but KDOT reserves the right to remove any posts that are considered offensive or truly off color. As with other blogs, we also anticipate the blog community to monitor itself.