New U.S. 59 could cement area as distribution center

The new 59 will connect to I-35 just northeast of Ottawa at about Pawnee Road.

The new four-lane will replace what has been called by Kansas Department of Transportation officials  one of the worst highways in the state.

“I think it will be very positive for us,” Tom Weigand, Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce president, said.

The new highway represents an improvement in safety and business opportunity, he said.

Weigand said the new highway will provide a good connection between I-35 and I-70, which is the Kansas Turnpike along northern Ottawa.

“That’s going to be a spur to our economy,” he said.

The new highway, and its improved connections, will cement the city’s position as a distribution center and will attract other businesses as well, he said.

“We continue to have less expensive land and more affordable housing,” Weigand said.

A proposed “intermodal” freight complex proposed by Burlington Northern Santa Fe near Gardner northeast of I-35 would accelerate the growth spurred by the new U.S. 59, he said.

Commercial growth will also be boosted by a new truck plaza to be developed northwest of the I-35 and K-68 interchange and near the new U.S. 59 interchange, Wynndee Lee, Ottawa planning and codes director, said.

The project is being built in two stages. The first stage involved that part of the highway in Franklin County.

Since grading work began last year, Ames Construction, the Minnesota contractor in charge of the project, has been hit by a series of weird weather events, including abnormally heavy rains and flooding,  and freak winter storms.

However, work on the U.S. 59 project is only slightly behind because of the weather, Priscilla Petersen, a KDOT district public affairs manager, said.

Winter weather conditions have shut down Ames’ earth work activities, she said, but construction on the bridges continues, she said.

One lane of I-35 northeast of Ottawa was shut down to allow Ames to build bridges for the new U.S. 59 interchange with I-35, she said.

 Ames is scheduled to be done with the grading and the bridges in May 2009, she said.

Bids for surfacing work on the Franklin County project are tentatively scheduled to be let in December 2008, Peterson said.

Work on the Franklin County segment of the highway will be done at least a year earlier than in Douglas County.

In Douglas County, grading and bridge work covering slightly more than 11 miles is tentatively scheduled to be let in November 2008 and surfacing in June 2010. Estimated completion date for the entire project is in 2011.

When the project is done, the old 59 will be turned over to Douglas and Franklin counties and the city of Ottawa as a county road and city street.

KDOT has agreed to make repairs on the old highway and bridges before it is turned over to the local governments.

That part of old 59 between the new highway and Ottawa will continue to see heavy traffic, Weigand said.

However, there has been some concern about the new highway’s impact on downtown Ottawa.

The new highway means that most incidental north-south traffic won’t be going through the downtown area.

The impact will be hard to gauge, Weigand said.

But business and city officials will be working harder to make Ottawa a destination for visitors, he said.

Weigand was part of a local delegation that worked out an agreement with KDOT for signs designed to make the turnoff from the new highway to Ottawa more visible, he said.

“We won’t let travelers overlook Ottawa,” he said.