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Kansas Department of Transportation’s response to a letter regarding its design for the Kansas Highway 7 and Interstate 70 interchange hasn’t assuaged the Bonner Springs City Council one bit.

“I didn’t see any real concern on their part, just their pat responses,” council member Jeff Harrington said during tonight’s work session prior to the City Council meeting.

Members of the council, as well as city manager John “Jack” Helin, had decided to send a letter to KDOT in the last part of April, outlining several problems they saw with the design. The letter was sent following an April 13 briefing the council had with KDOT and officials with GBA Architects Engineers about the interchange design, a tri-fold system of interchanges at K-7 and 130th Street, K-7 and I-70 and K-7 and Kansas Avenue.

Officials with KDOT recently responded in a letter of their own, addressing each of these issues with reasons why the design should go ahead as is, in addition to offering some possible alternatives to satisfy the council. The letter opened and closed with an invitation to the council to meet again and discuss each issue further.

One issue in the council’s letter was that 134th Street might be closed under the current project design, which calls for a new road, 136th Street, to be built in place of 134th.

“We are adamant about 134th Street remaining open as a connecting street between the north and south portion of our city,” the letter said. “A through street west of 134th Street does not currently exist, and it makes no sense to place the burden on our city to build a new street in lieu of the existing (one).”

In response, KDOT said the design could easily accommodate this request.

Another problem the council included in its letter was the size of the southwest loop in KDOT’s proposed system of interchanges, which the council believes is too large and which compromises much developable land. The letter noted that, in the April 13 briefing, the council had brought up the idea of using retaining walls instead so as to reach the same goal the interchange design would achieve but at the expense of less land. KDOT and GBA had said this idea would be much too expensive.

“We believe this approach is penny wise and pound foolish,” the council’s letter said. “Taking away developable property because you do not want to build retaining walls could cost the state and city millions of dollars in future sales tax revenue.”

KDOT’s response was that the loop needed to be that size to accommodate heavy traffic flow in that area as well as to allow for a direct access point onto the east side of K-7. It said that KDOT had never completely out ruled the possibility of retaining walls.

“KDOT has agreed, as documented in meetings with the city and Tiblow Center developer, to build retaining walls where needed to accommodate their site plan,” KDOT’s letter said.

For more on this story, check out the June 11 issue of the Chieftain.

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