Revised $330 million plan for East Kellogg includes Webb and Greenwich interchanges, K-96 ramps

A revised plan to improve traffic flow on Kellogg in east Wichita will include new interchanges at Webb and Greenwich roads and new Kansas Turnpike ramps at K-96.

The project, estimated to cost $330 million, is an expansion of plans to revamp the Kellogg interchange at Webb Road and the turnpike that was rejected earlier this year after the sole bid came back millions over budget.

The original plans, estimated at $97 million, called for a complex Kellogg overpass with a high-speed double off/on-ramp linking the turnpike and Webb, plus access roads on both sides.

Its rejection prompted talks between the city of Wichita, the Kansas Department of Transportation and Kansas Turnpike Authority about cost-sharing and alternative designs that could benefit all travelers in the area.

“In combining resources we have simplified the original Webb Road interchange project,” Kansas Transportation Secretary Mike King said at a news conference Thursday. “We have advanced the Greenwich Road project by two years and we have also included new ramps in at the Turnpike out at U.S. 54 just a couple miles to the east.”

The expanded scope of the project will reduce the total time drivers and local businesses will be affected by the construction, as well as provide an option for possible future expansion to K-96, he said.

Although the expanded plans, which are not yet finalized, are more than triple the cost of the original plan for the Webb interchange, simplifying the design of that interchange will allow the city to save an estimated $15 million to $20 million, Wichita city engineer Gary Janzen said.

Janzen added that those savings will go back into the overall project to help fund the improvements further east.

“It’s been a tremendous deal. Without that, this interchange was a lot more complicated,” he said.

“Once we saw what traffic was doing, we were able to move some of that out east and really simplify this.”

The city, state and KTA will share the costs. The city plans to contribute about $140 million and KDOT’s share will be about $190 million, said Janzen and Steve Swartz, a KDOT spokesman.

KTA plans to invest $24 million to construct the toll road interchanges and turnpike ramps.

Concept designs will be unveiled to the public from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at Summit Church, 10225 E. Kellogg. The meeting will start with a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session.

The city is expected to open bids on the Webb leg of the project next summer, officials said. The Greenwich interchange will likely go out for bid in mid-2016. The improvements are projected to be completed in 2019.

Legislators and local officials gathered in a parking lot off of Kellogg near the Turnpike Thursday afternoon to hear the announcement of the partnership and the expanded highway project.

Gov. Sam Brownback praised KDOT, KTA and the city of Wichita for working together to meet the future traffic needs on the eastern edge of town, saying: “Travel on the east side of Wichita and beyond is going to be a lot smoother with the construction of this project.”

King called the agencies’ partnership a “bigger, better approach” to the Kellogg-Webb interchange project.

The project is expected to improve traffic flow, Wichita City Councilman Pete Meitzner noted in his remarks to the crowd. He said Kellogg’s intersections with Webb and Greenwich are two of the city’s four busiest, citing an estimated 70,000 vehicles passing through Webb daily and about 48,000 passing through Greenwich.

The new construction plans are based on projected traffic counts on Kellogg for 2040, which are estimated at 120,000 cars per day, Janzen said.

“We’re asking for patience with the business owners here and the residents who drive this,” Meitzner said. “We’re going to try to get the traffic moving and have the least impact on your businesses as we go forward through the next few years on this.”

This story was originally published October 16, 2014 at 10:51 PM with the headline "Revised $330 million plan for East Kellogg includes Webb and Greenwich interchanges, K-96 ramps."