‘We want to accommodate a growing driving force’: Meeting held on K-96 expansion in Wichita
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The Kansas Department of Transportation held a public meeting Thursday evening to discuss the Kansas Highway 96 Improvement Project.
Work is being planned to improve the K-96 freeway between Interstate 135 and 21st Street on the east side of Wichita. The road would be expanded from four to six lanes. Interchanges would be improved at Hillside, Oliver, Woodlawn, Rock, Webb, Greenwich, and 21st Street. Some of the intersections may get a diverging diamond format.
KDOT’s public information officer for the Wichita metro says improvements to the interchanges will mirror what other cities in the state have done.
“Five of those seven interchanges are going to get diverging diamond interchanges, which will be new to the city of Wichita. They are a lot safer for pedestrians. It will help relieve some of the congestion along the highway. It will increase the amount of time it kind of takes to get on the highway, so motorists will be able to accelerate at a pretty comfortable speed to match,” said KDOT Public Information Officer JB Wilson.
KDOT says about 50,000 people drive on K-96 each day. They say the highway needs to change because of growth in Wichita and surrounding areas.
“We want to accommodate a growing driving force. We want to make sure that people can drive comfortably on these roads. You know we’re looking out till 2050 for the next 25 years. We would like to make a good roadway system that they can take comfortably, that is safer that has less congestion and bottles. Next, we want it we went to improve the overall driving experience on K-96,” said Wilson.
KDOT says there are 200 wrecks each year in this area. They are hoping expanding the highway will cut down on traffic jams.
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