‘Giant connector’ between Wichita, Derby could get revamp. How to share your thoughts
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If you have complaints about the K-15 highway, you’re not alone.
That’s why the Kansas Department of Transportation is working on gathering information for a study to improve the K-15 corridor by hearing the public’s thoughts and concerns on the topic.
The study focuses specifically on the 5.67-mile stretch from 95th Street South in Derby to I-135 in Wichita.
“It’s such a large corridor … the giant connector from I-135 clear into Derby. There’s a huge swath of the public that use it to commute to work,” said J.B. Wilson, spokesman for the KDOT district that includes Derby.
An open house Wednesday, Sept. 18, in Derby was the first of three planned for residents to review early project data and share their concerns with the department.
Wilson said that the department is specifically making sure that those who use the highway are getting their questions and concerns addressed in the study.
“There’s a large network that we typically try to make sure we’re in communication with so that we are so that we have a full picture of the environment that these commuters travel in daily ... because ultimately, they’re going to be the ones that have to traverse this on a daily basis,” he said.
Ten-year data shows about 1,050 crashes in the last decade on the 5.67-mile stretch. Out of that number, 13 have involved serious injuries and six have been fatal.
Partners for the study include both Derby and Wichita, Sedgwick County and the Wichita Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
What are residents’ main concerns?
Staff members said that so far, residents’ concerns have mainly echoed what the data has showed.
Shared sentiments at the open house included concerns with intersections, visibility issues and traffic backups. Both the 55th Street intersection and the Kansas Turnpike entrances were brought up by residents.
John Nicholas, who chairs the county’s District 5 traffic sub-committee citizens advisory board, shared several recommendations, including more lights at the 55th street intersection as well as a pedestrian overpass at K-15/47th.
Derby resident Rodney Groshans works at Spirit, so he uses K-15 to drive to work. But when driving back home, he said he always tries to avoid the K-15 traffic.
Groshans said he also sees problems with the 55th Street intersection.
“I’ve seen and heard so many different accidents at 55th Street coming out of K-15,” he said. “There needs to be a light; there needs to be something because nobody’s paying attention to the stop sign.”
How you can weigh in
There will be two more open houses scheduled for residents to review data and share thoughts. While those dates have yet to be decided, residents can also share their comments online at arcg.is/GGGKT0.
After the open houses and enough comments have been shared, the department is aiming to have the study completed with a list of recommendations to improve the corridor by spring 2025.
“Once we have that future study, we’ll have a pretty good idea of the kind of next steps that we’d like to take,” Wilson said. “But it’s just getting to that future study, it’s getting as much feedback as possible, it’s collecting as much data as possible, so we have … a pretty concrete understanding of how we would like to move forward.”
