K-68 growth could depend on intermodal

And one of the biggest things that could happen is a proposed “intermodal” freight center in neighboring Johnson County, Tom Weigand, Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce president, said.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe plans to build the giant facility, where truck trailers will be loaded and unloaded from long trains, near Gardner.

The intermodal center will have a strong and positive impact on Franklin County and on K-68 east of Ottawa, Weigand said.

Ottawa could see more people moving to Ottawa who work at the center, the proximity of the center could spur the building of more distribution centers and warehouses and see the location of more businesses, he said.

The growth potential for K-68 could be even greater than  the new U.S. 59 four-lane freeway now being built north of Ottawa, he said.

Much of the space between the new U.S. 59 expressway and the city of Ottawa probably isn’t going to be development any time soon, Weigand said.

A major part of the area includes an operating rock quarry and there’s little developable land available for sale in the area, he said.

If there’s development that occurs, it could likely be north of the new expressway or east of I-35, he said.

A large travel center is planned for the area northwest of the K-68 interchange on I-35.

“That will be the first large development in that area,” Wynndee Lee, city planning and codes director, said. “... That will create a new commercial energy that we haven’t had on K-68,” she said. “It will have a lot of visibility from I-35.”

The Coves, a high-density residential development southeast of the Wilson and Davis intersection will be the next biggest development to have a strong impact on K-68 traffic patterns, she said.

Although it’s a style that’s been used elsewhere, the Coves’ development style — unsurprisingly, called “coving” — is experimental in this region and features carefully sited houses, interior streets and sidewalks to give a feeling of spaciousness despite its high density.

Construction on the first phase of about 40 houses will begin as quickly as possible. Eventually, the three-phase Coves development will have 140 houses.

K-68 will be the focus of a state “corridor study” of the  highway from Ottawa to the Missouri border.

Franklin County and Ottawa have joined with Miami County, Louisburg, Paola and the Kansas Department of Transportation to do the study of K-68, which is designed to head off problems of traffic congestion and unregulated growth that have occurred along other highways that have seen high commercial and residential growth along them.

“I think everyone knows there’s going to be some kind of growth between here and Louisburg,” Don Stottlemire, Franklin County commissioner and a member of a task force worked on the corridor study agreement, said. “They want to get a hand on things.

“I know there have been some complaints that we’re a little early.

“But if we had done this for U.S. 59 maybe we would have been invited to the table before all the decisions were made.”

KDOT is trying to coordinate its policy concerning access to the highway with the cities and counties’ planning and development rules, Larry Walrod, county planning director, said.

“We’re looking for the long term,” Walrod said.

The county has yet to receive an agreement on how the costs of the study will be apportioned, Jim Haag, county public works director, said.

Once the costs are agreed on, the state’s consultant will proceed with the study, he said.