Truck drivers hauling material to and from Monarch Cement Co. in Humboldt face a particularly troublesome stretch of road on K-39 west of Chanute toward Fredonia.
Kent Webber, president of Monarch, shared his concerns about the road at a special meeting organized by the Kansas Department of Transportation at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center on Thursday morning.
KDOT officials met with more than 100 residents, county and city officials, business leaders and non-profit representatives to discuss projects under IKE, the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program.
K-39 is the primary west access to Chanute, Webber noted. KDOT has identified a 15-mile section between U.S. 400 and U.S. 75 as in need of reconstruction, at a projected cost of $64 million. But compared to other projects, engineers have scored the project as a relatively low need.
Webber said the road needs “a tougher look.” It features curves, railroad tracks with a history of derailments, thick woods, a crossing over the Verdigris River and steep drop-offs with minimal shoulders.
“We’re currently shipping about 32,000 truckloads annually out of Humboldt, and I assume Ashgrove at Chanute is doing the same,” Webber said.
“This time of year, you’ll see up to 10 deer per mile dead on the side of the road. They come up off that dike and get hit. And you’ve got semis stopping in the center of the road because there’s nowhere to turn around.”
Webber was one of many who shared concerns about various state roadways in southeast Kansas.
Similar meetings have been conducted throughout the state as KDOT officials seek public input on transportation needs. The “Local Consult” meetings are required as part of the IKE program.
Three years ago, lawmakers passed a new 10-year transportation program to address highways, bridges, public transit, aviation, short-line rail and bike/pedestrian needs across the state.
About $10 billion is expected to support projects with a goal to “provide a safe, reliable, innovative statewide transportation system that works for all Kansans, today and in the future,” Calvin Reed, secretary of transportation, told the crowd.
About half of that is designed to preserve existing transportation infrastructure.
“We know from past experience that if we fall short on preserving and maintaining our system, we’re constantly playing catch-up,” Reed said. “That’s what we’ve been doing for the first three years of our project.”
Thursday’s meeting, though, was intended to mostly focus on “modernization and expansion projects,” with improvements relegated to safety and capacity. They include such things as flattening hills, removing curves, adding passing lanes, converting two-lane roads to four-lanes, or new interchanges.
In District 4, which represents Southeast Kansas, an investment of at least $650 million is planned, with about $100 million for “modernization and expansion” projects and $550 million for preservation of existing roads, bridges and other forms of transportation.
