Kansas residents outline transportation priorities

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September 26, 2008

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Sep 26, 2008, 09:38 PM CDT

By Andra Bryan Stefanoni

news@joplinglobe.com

PITTSBURG, Kan. — More than 100 people representing many Southeast Kansas communities and counties turned out Friday for a forum held by the governor’s newly formed task force on transportation.

Two questions resonated throughout the sessions: What do people need and want in terms of transportation, and how to pay for it?

The meetings are part of an effort to develop a third Comprehensive Transportation Plan for Kansas.

Kansas legislators and those representing rail, aviation, highways, public transit and bike/pedestrian issues presented their visions to the task force.

Highway goals

Elected leaders and city officials from Montgomery County, Independence, and Parsons want the task force to widen U.S. Highway 400 to four lanes from Pittsburg to Wichita to assist economic development.

“It’s a high priority,” said Ann Charles, deputy director of the Local Redevelopment Authority in Parsons, which wants to develop an industrial park on the site of the Kansas Army Ammunition Plant.

Employment was at 1,400 people during the Gulf War, but dropped to 230 after cuts by the U.S. Department of Defense, she said.

“We want that to be back at 1,300 or above,” she said. “We see development as including office space, light and heavy industrial, safe-haven parking for trucks on 400 ... plus possible hunting and fishing as it is the No. 7 whitetail deer-hunting spot in the United States.”

Others wanted an emphasis on making U.S. Highway 69 a four-lane corridor from Fort Scott to Interstate 44 in Oklahoma.

“It should be the No. 1 priority. It is of vital importance, and it’s not just a Pittsburg bypass,” said Kevin Mitchelson, of Pittsburg, a previous member of the Kansas Highway Commission and now a member of the Highway 69 Association.

He cited a study projecting a 20.3 increase in population in the Pittsburg area between now and 2030.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth at PSU with the Kansas Technology Center and the Polymer Center, and yesterday PSU announced a record enrollment of 7,000 students. In an area like this, it has been and will continue to be a heavily traveled road,” he said.

Many community officials, including those from Pittsburg, also want more funding to develop their airports.

Requests ranged from $1 million on the low end to $3 million on the high end to complete modernization, preservation and economic development projects.

But Ed Young, KDOT’s aviation director, said Federal Aviation Association funding is harder to come by.

“They are suggesting that 60 Kansas airports receive less money, and 14 rural airports are cut off altogether,” he said.

Public transit

Rick Knight, advocacy coordinator with the Southeast Kansas Independent Living, based in Pittsburg, urged the state to make regional public transit a priority.

Currently, KDOT subsidizes costs associated with purchasing vehicles and provides $4,000 in operating funds per year to groups that provide transportation for the elderly and disabled.

Lisa Koch, public transportation manager for KDOT, led a breakout session in which the challenges were discussed.

“There are a number of issues ... intercity transportation from smaller communities to larger ones, to work sites, for medical reasons.

“There are third-shift employees who don’t have a guaranteed ride home because of a lack in coordinated transit, there are larger businesses like Amazon and Cessna looking to employ more people, but some have to come from an hour to an hour and a half away in Oklahoma and Missouri, and with gas costs, can’t afford to drive.”

Railroads

Opinions on whether the state should fund railway improvements — and if so, how — were varied, with railway advocates requesting state support that they say would alleviate the overburdened highway system.

Among other requests, Ed McKechnie, executive vice president and chief commercial officer for Watco Companies, a short-line railroad based in Pittsburg, urged the state to consider re-establishing a railway advisory group.

“We don’t have a single portal for folks to raise issues on a statewide basis. It’s frustrating when you feel like you’re out there all by yourself. We need a place to go to raise hands and ask questions and advocate for priorities.”

Car loadings have more than doubled since 2001 and rural communities in Southeast Kansas depend on rail more than many residents realize, McKechnie explained.

Don Linville, Garden City, a member of the task force, said Friday’s meeting generated more questions than answers, but that is something vital to the process leading to decision making.

“It’s easy to become east versus west or urban versus rural in this process,” he said. “But we need to put that aside and look at the whole and what’s best for the entire state.”

Road network

Kansas has the fourth largest public road network (130,000 miles) in the nation. And, of the state’s 19,500 bridges, only 3,000 are eligible for federal replacement funds. With federal funding drying up and with motor fuel taxes losing viability as a funding source, discussions Friday ranged from establishing tolls, decreasing the number of tax exemptions, and creating incentives for counties to close lesser-used roads and bridges.