By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
Two Kansas legislators whose districts include Cherokee County say the state should include Highway 7 in its next transportation plan.
State Reps. Doug Gatewood, D-Columbus, and Bob Grant, D-Cherokee, testified last week before a legislative committee meeting in Pittsburg. The current 10-year transportation plan ends next year.
Highway 7 runs from Columbus north through Cherokee and Girard, joining with Highway 69 at Fort Scott and continuing north through Kansas City and to the Nebraska line.
Gatewood said his main consideration is the 11-mile section of Highway 7 from Cherokee to Columbus.
“K-7 is a narrow road surface with no shoulders, and offers no margin for error for the many vehicles who will meet truck traffic while commuting to school, work or the county seat,” Gatewood said in his testimony last week.
Gatewood said by phone this week that the highway is his top transportation priority. He said each lane of the highway needs to be widened by a foot, and shoulders should be added.
He said the highest local traffic count along the highway is between Columbus and Scammon.
Gatewood said that if a highway bypass is built at Pittsburg, Highway 7 will become a detour for local motorists, whether it is an officially designated detour or not.
Grant said he agrees with Gatewood that Highway 7 should be widened. He said maybe a higher priority for him is completion of a four-lane U.S. Highway 69 from Fort Scott to Interstate 44, including a Pittsburg bypass and a Fort Scott bypass.
Grant said he also agrees with Gatewood that the Highway 7 work is needed before the Pittsburg bypass is built.
“The continued economic growth of Southeast Kansas is dependent on completion of that 69 highway,” Grant said.
President-elect Barack Obama’s planned stimulus package for infrastructure would include money to states for roads and bridges. He has said he wants the money to go toward “shovel-ready” projects, presumably meaning projects that are ready to start.
Grant and Gatewood each said designs and plans are in place for the projects they are promoting, and that it wouldn’t take a lot of time to complete the plans. They said that with an eye toward the stimulus package, the state is considering an interim plan before it develops a 10-year comprehensive plan.
“I know Deb Miller, the secretary of transportation, isn’t wanting necessarily to lock in a 10-year plan,” Grant said.
A document on the Kansas Department of Transportation Web site lists $1.3 billion worth of highway projects around the state that could be turned around quickly as part of a federal stimulus package. The list doesn’t specify Kansas Highway 7 in Cherokee County or improvements to U.S. Highway 69 in Crawford County. It does include $50 million for 20 miles of additional four-lane U.S. Highway 400 in Butler, Greenwood, Wilson, Montgomery or Labette counties.
Grant said people complain to him about detours and delays when highway work is being done.
“We all gripe about the orange cones,” Grant said. “The orange cones mean progress. When the orange cones disappear, we’ve got better roads.”
Grant said residents also should understand that the state usually allocates most of the transportation money in the areas of the state with the highest population and traffic numbers.
Support
State Rep. Julie Menghini, D-Pittsburg, a member of the legislative committee that held last week’s meeting, said the committee heard a lot of support for widening U.S. Highway 69 to a four-lane highway from Fort Scott to Interstate 44, and for a four-lane U.S. Highway 400 from Pittsburg to Wichita.
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