Gov. Laura Kelly and the state Transportation Department on Wednesday committed to funding $442 million in new highway projects from 2028 to 2030 as part of the state’s ongoing 10-year transportation plan.
Kelly, accompanied by Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed, announced the projects at a news conference in Lindsborg on Wednesday afternoon.
It was the fourth wave of projects – now totaling $2.7 billion – that have been announced since the Legislature approved the current transportation plan in 2020.
“Since the program’s inception, we have worked diligently to advance important infrastructure modernization and expansion projects to the construction stage, ensuring a safe, prosperous future for Kansans in rural, suburban and urban communities across the state,” Kelly said.
The projects announced Wednesday were put into a construction pipeline, a new approach to funding major highway projects under the Kelly administration.
When the last transportation plan was approved about 15 years ago, the state identified $2 billion in major expansion and modernization projects up front.
The current approach is different. It was intended to be more dynamic and subject to change every two years as transportation priorities evolved across Kansas.
When the new plan was approved by the Legislature in 2020, it called for identifying up to $1.2 billion in projects at the outset and putting them in a pipeline for development work such as engineering, design and right-of-way acquisition.
Gradually, those projects have been scheduled for construction and placed in the construction pipeline over time.
There are currently 28 projects totaling about $2.5 billion in the development pipeline waiting to be advanced to construction.
About $1.5 billion of those development projects are in northeast Kansas, $512 million are in south-central Kansas, $192 million are in southwest Kansas and $119 million are in north-central Kansas.
Major projects in the development pipeline include $1.2 billion for improvements to Kansas 10 in Johnson County and $200 million to upgrade U.S. 54 to a six-lane freeway in Butler County.
Other projects in the development pipeline include $70 million for interchange improvements at Interstates 70/135 in Salina, $40 million for reconstructing Kansas 23 in Sheridan and Gove counties and $125 million to upgrade U.S. 50 to a four-lane expressway in Gray and Ford counties.
Also in the pipeline is $60 million for upgrading U.S. 160 in Montgomery and Labette counties.
Here is a complete breakdown of every project in the pipelines – construction and development – as well as those projects that have already been completed.
The current plan, like the last one, called for spending at least $8 million in each of the state’s 105 counties. The state is meeting that goal, Reed told lawmakers last December.
Reed said the Transportation Department had already spent at least $8 million in 93 counties and was on target to reach that amount in 12 other counties.
Here is a list of the statewide construction projects as announced Wednesday:
Project: Replace Centennial Bridge and expand to four lanes in Leavenworth County.
Cost: $157 million
Estimated construction letting: 2028
Project: Interchange construction at Kansas 10 and Lone Elm Road in Johnson County.
Cost: $43 million
Estimated construction letting: 2030
Project: Reconstruct Kansas 33 and widen shoulders in Douglas County.
Cost: $15 million
Estimated construction letting: 2030
Project: Reconstruct Kansas 4 and Bethany Drive in Lindsborg.
Cost: $11 million
Estimated construction letting: 2029
Project: Reconstruct U.S. 281 in Russell and Osborne counties.
Cost: $17 million
Estimated construction letting: 2028
Project: Reconstruct Kansas 33 and widen shoulders in Franklin County.
Cost: $11 million
Estimated construction letting: 2030
Project: Add passing lanes to U.S. 169 in Anderson and Allen counties.
Cost: $35 million
Estimated construction letting: 2029
Project: Kansas 96 interchange improvements at Rock Road and Woodlawn Road in Sedgwick County.
Cost: $120
Estimated construction letting: 2029
Project: Add passing lanes to U.S 83 in Scott and Finney counties.
Cost: $33 million
Estimated construction letting: 2029.
