RELEASE: Schmidt proposes major four-lane highway as priority to grow Southern Kansas

Press Release

Kansas Attorney General and Republican Nominee for Governor Derek Schmidt today announced his intention to prioritize as governor a four-lane highway connecting Southeast Kansas, Wichita, and Southwest Kansas in the state's transportation system in order to bring meaningful and sustainable growth to Kansas.

Schmidt earlier this month told a Pittsburg audience that if elected governor, he will provide the leadership to make the project -- which has been discussed for decades -- an economic development and transportation priority for the state. He expanded on his proposal today.

"President Eisenhower was visionary in launching the interstate highway system less than 70 years ago," Schmidt said. "In my view, the construction of Interstate 70 across northern Kansas continues to provide perhaps the biggest economic return on capital investment of taxpayer dollars in Kansas history. Southern Kansas needs and deserves that same opportunity because in the 21st century, four-lane access is essential for economic growth, particularly in manufacturing and agriculture, which are staples of the region. The expansion of four-lane access connecting Southwest Kansas, Wichita, and Southeast Kansas with the interstate highway system in the east -- including completion of the U.S. 69 project -- is generations overdue. This will be a priority for me as governor."

Schmidt noted that the combination of the Legislature enacting in 2020 the new Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Plan and the federal enactment last year of the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will make available large amounts of funding for transportation in the coming years. Therefore, now is the time to prioritize a transformative statewide transportation project like a southern Kansas four-lane highway.

He noted that major portions of the project already are planned, budgeted, underway or have been completed. For example, the Kellogg freeway project through Wichita has been completed after decades of work, and that project now is slated for extension east to Andover. Similarly, US-400 is four lanes going west out of Wichita to Kingman, and other segments of US-400 and US-54 have been or are being upgraded to four lanes in Southwest Kansas. In Southeast Kansas, the state already owns the four-lane right-of-way along US-400 from Wichita to at least Parsons, and planning is underway to complete the US 69 four-lane connection to Interstate 44.

What's missing is the leadership that puts these pieces together, fills the gaps, and commits to getting the overall project done.

"This is a situation where the whole will be far more beneficial to Kansas than the sum of the parts," Schmidt said, noting that truck traffic in the corridor is increasing because of major investments in Southwest Kansas such as the new Hilmar Cheese plant in Dodge City, in Southeast Kansas such as the Bartlett Grain soybean crushing facility near Cherryvale and other projects under consideration at the Great Plains Industrial Park in Parsons, and in distribution facilities all along the corridor. "It's time to be bold in this corridor so we can get the maximum economic benefit from the power of a four-lane highway in attracting new investment and career opportunities in southern Kansas and expanding existing operations. The entire state will benefit for generations to come from bold leadership that brings people together to make this a priority and get it done."

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