K-68 Improvements, Kansas Department of Transportation

 

The stretch of K-68 between US-69 and US-169 received safety funds for various improvements through the Kansas Department of Transportation’s (KDOT) T-WORKS Program. KDOT’s long-term plan for this 8-mile section is to design and construct a 4-lane expressway. Their plans would support economic development and increase safety and capacity for the area.

Affinis was contracted by KDOT to complete a preliminary design of the future 4-lane expressway to help determine, through public involvement and engineering analysis, how to best spend interim safety funds. The interim safety improvements include intersection geometric improvements and turn lanes in high accident areas to increase safety. As part of the process, our team presented possible solutions and sought feedback from residents. The information gathered was used to prioritize and identify improvements for K-68. In addition to the safety improvements, seven-tenths of a mile of 4-lane urban highway was designed from the west ramps of the US-69 interchange heading west to Spring Valley Road.

Increased traffic from the Louisburg Cider Mill places additional stress on the safety and capacity of K-68. To plan for this, changes to Somerset Road and the frontage road to the Cider Mill were moved into a separate plan set. This would make it simpler to schedule construction to best avoid fall activities.

Share this project: