Dear editor,
As a former tourism director for the City of Chanute and member of the Southeast Kansas Tourism Region, I worked alongside representatives of cities, counties and tourist attractions to develop ways to attract visitors and their money to our area. One of the most frequent complaints I heard from business owners was that, after US-169 was improved, visitors who used to pass through towns in our area, and would shop, stay overnight, fill up, or eat, were re-routed and no longer stopped. Business owners in Chanute, for example, derisively referred to KDOTs…
