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Kansas kills road, bridge work for 2010 and beyond

March 8, 2010

Kansas will not be tackling any road repairs over the next fiscal year. Gov. Mark Parkinson took the fight out of the highway program when he announced that all highway repair projects have been cancelled or postponed. Parkinson said the sacrifice was needed to avoid further cutbacks for schools, social services and public safety programs.

Among the $267 million worth of projects that will be eliminated are:

• The paving of two parts of I-435 ($6.4 million);

• The paving of U.S. 69 in Overland Park north from 159th Street to Blue Valley Parkway ($1.2 million);

Among the $267 million worth of projects that will be eliminated are:

• The paving of two parts of I-435 ($6.4 million); • The paving of U.S. 69 in Overland Park north from 159th Street to Blue Valley Parkway ($1.2 million); • The paving of Kansas 32 in Wyandotte County from Kansas 7 to the Turner Diagonal ($2 million); and • A $1 million to patch I-70 from 78th Street in Wyandotte County to the Missouri state line.

According to the Kansas City Star, the state now spends less on highway construction then it did in the 1970s.

“Considering the winter that we have had, Kansans are going to see rougher pavement and more potholes, and we’re going to be very limited in our ability to address them,” Kansas Secretary of Transportation Deb Miller told the Star.

However, Kansas roads are in pretty good shape, 85% of the highways are in good condition, but if the funding crisis continues that number could be reduced to just 50% by 2020.