Millions in transportation dollars from COVID-19 bill will go to Wichita and KC areas

More than $9.1 million of the roughly $93.6 million Kansas received in federal highway and transportation funds through a COVID-19 relief bill will go to the Wichita and Kansas City areas, officials said Thursday.

Gov. Laura Kelly and Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary Julie Lorenz announced the breakdown of how transportation dollars through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act will be spent during a news conference at the Meridian Center in Newton on Thursday. The legislation, which was signed into law Dec. 27, included $10 billion for state highway and transportation systems, with Kansas receiving about $93.6 million, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

Studies show each dollar in transportation “ripples through the economy four times over,” Lorenz said.

There are three pools of funding for the roughly $84.6 million left over after the Wichita and Kansas City’s areas receive approximately $9.1 million.

One funding avenue is to replace the roughly $37.5 million in lost motor fuel tax dollars since April 2020, Kelly said. Since about a third of that revenue is earmarked for city and county municipalities, $12.5 million will go back to those municipalities and the rest will go to the state, she said.

Wichita will see another roughly $866,000 and Kansas City will get approximately $339,000 out of the $12.5 million.

Lorenz said the $12.5 million will come from the state, eliminating the “red tape” that restricts smaller municipalities from taking federal dollars.

“We are eliminating red tape for local communities so they can deliver services and projects for Kansans much sooner and more easily,” Lorenz said.

The money also includes at least $25 million in preservation construction and between $10-15 million for “local partnership programs such as Cost Share, Local Bridge, Technology and High Risk Rural Roads,” the release says.

“Priority will be given (to) communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the release.