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K-DOT Plans Projects for Next 3 Years

by Robert Marin (TOPEKA, Kan.)

The Kansas Department of Transportation has released its list of planned highway projects for the next three years. Officials say some projects will be limited by budget cuts and funding uncertainties.

The list includes $336 million in projects for the 2010 fiscal year, $312 million for the 2011 fiscal year and $270 million for the 2012 fiscal year. K-DOT officials say those numbers are far shorter than $650 million-a-year average spending during the Comprehensive Transportation Program and the $415 million annual investment the Governor's transportation task force determined was needed to preserve the state's highway system.

K-DOT officials say the funding allows them to do about 40 preservation projects. Those are things like bridge replacement, pavement reconstruction, resurfacing and maintenance. Officials say more than half of the 2010 funding will be spent on about 300 maintenance projects. The list of projects is still being finalized.

They say some of the 2010 funding will be spent on the final phases of several projects started under the 10-year Comprehensive Transportation Program, which expired June 30th. Those projects are the expansion of U.S. 54 in Kingman County and expanding U.S. 59 in Douglas County.

K-DOT says its budget has been trimmed by $55 million since May. Officials say revenue adjustments to the State Highway Fund have left K-DOT with a total hit of $161 million to its 2010 budget. K-DOT officials also say there is an impending cash shortfall in the Federal Highway Trust Fund, from which they receive a large part of revenue. Officials say if the fund isn't fixed, K-DOT will receive $285 million less than the $357 million it received in 2009.

For a full list of projects planned by K-DOT from 2010 to 2012, click here.