WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – The Kansas Department of Transportation is working to finalize improvement plans to make K-254 safer between Wichita and El Dorado. The approximately 30-mile stretch is a state highway along which crashes happen regularly.
The intersection of K-254 and River Valley, outside Towanda, is one of several intersections that KDOT plans to make safer with its improvement project, the K-254 Corridor Management Plan. Addressing the need to improve safety along K-254, Towanda City Administrator Andy Newberry speaks with personal experience.
“Myself, I’ve been in a wreck on Hunter Road. I was coming to town from my house, I live just north of town a little bit, you know. I didn’t see the car and I pulled out in front of somebody,” Newberry said.
KDOT and surrounding cities are working to protect Kansas drivers by making K-254 safer.
“Seeing how Wichita and Sedgwick County were growing east and so many fatalities occurring here in Butler County. And a lot of these wrecks you’re seeing are our local folks,” said Butler County Commissioner Kelly Herzet, the former sheriff in Butler County.
Through a few town hall meetings this week, KDOT is providing updates to its initial improvement plan.
“We’ve revisited the interchange to River Valley Road and incorporated a roundabout to Main Street (in Towanda) off of River Valley Road,” KDOT Project Manager David Seitz explained. “We also have some revisions to the RCUT intersections where we are providing a phased solution.”
RCUT intersections, or Restricted Crossing U-Turns, “are used mainly on four-lane divided highways, re-route left-turn and through vehicles from the side road), and potential frontage roads along the K-254 corridor in Sedgwick and Butler counties,” KDOT explained.
KDOT plans to have a plan finalized by the end of summer. From there, the department estimates that the work will take 20 to 25 years to complete.
Herzet said while the project won’t happen overnight, it’s important to get done for future drivers.
KDOT will be hosting three more open houses this week on the plans to improve K-254:
- Wednesday, July 31, from 6 to 7 p.m.
- Kansas Highway Patrol Troop F office in Kechi, 1900 E. Tigua St.
- Thursday, Aug. 1, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Wilbur Wiens Community Building in Towanda, 315 Main St.
- Thursday, Aug. 1, from 6 to 7 p.m.
- Wilbur Wiens Community Building in Towanda, 315 Main St.
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