U.S. 59: How will it affect you?

Just about everyone has an opinion about the new U.S. 59 highway.

Some people welcome the promise of a safer highway, a highway that will quicken the commute from Ottawa to Lawrence.

Others are worried about how businesses will be affected by the highway, a highway that turned many families and homes upside down.

Regardless of the difference in opinions surrounding the highway, construction is under way and it’s only a matter of time before people get the answer to the question they’ve been asking themselves all along: How will the new U.S. 59 affect me?

Safer and faster

Terry Laird is one of those thousands of drivers. He’s been driving the highway each work day for the past 15 years, as he commutes from his home at Richmond to his job with a civil engineering firm, Landplan Engineering, in Lawrence.

“I’ve had a lot of close calls. I’ve been ran clear off the highway twice,” Laird said. “But I’ve never had an accident. Knock on wood.”

The highway features a series of sharp hills and curves. There are few passing zones and a speed limit of 55 mph, but that doesn’t stop some motorists from speeding or trying to pass in unsafe places.

For commuters, the new U.S. 59 promises a new route that will be safer, faster and easier to travel.

Responding to the scene

The Kansas Highway Patrol will handle most of the patrolling and accident response with assistance from sheriff’s deputies in Douglas and Franklin counties.

When the highway opens, the highway patrol could launch an enforcement effort to provide extra officers as drivers adapt to the new path and navigate through work zones, Trooper Edna Butler, spokeswoman for the patrol in Topeka, said.

Franklin County Sheriff Craig Davis said he worries most about the old highway. Though the new highway will bypass the city limits of Ottawa, it is possible to exit the four-lane highway at an interchange about three miles north of Ottawa. From there, drivers can head south on the old highway through downtown Ottawa.

“Our primary concern will be the people trying to take the shortcut,” Davis said. “Our enforcement emphasis will be on the older road. But the way KDOT has it configured, I don’t know if we’ll have tremendous traffic on the older part.”

For law enforcement agencies, the new U.S. 59 brings changes in patrolling, coverage and response time.

Left wondering

Tom Weigand, president of the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce, said it’s difficult to predict what will happen when truck traffic and “accidental tourists” leave the “old” U.S. 59 and take the new highway on a route that doesn’t pass right through the city.

Weigand said Main Street will have to become more of a destination downtown, with plenty of unique shopping opportunities that will attract local and out-of-town shoppers.

“This will continue to be a challenge,” he said.

He said another possible outcome for downtown is that it becomes more service-oriented, with more businesses like attorney offices and accountants than retail stores.

“We just have to commit to aiding present merchants any way we can and then attract businesses for vacancies and shoppers to arrive at a full-service downtown,” he said.

For Ottawa’s downtown, the new U.S. 59 brings anticipation.

Bringing in business

Ames Construction, contractor for the highway, is using a variety of out-of-state, area and local vendors, Carla Brown, Ames safety employee and secretary, said.

According to a list of vendors and accounts from Ames, more than 20 local companies are providing such services and products as motels, office supplies, tools, farm supplies, tires and more.

Weigand said the U.S. 59 project has been beneficial for Ottawa and Franklin County from a general economic standpoint.

“Just the construction has been positive — that does add to the economic impact,” he said.

Though she didn’t have exact figures, Brown estimated that about 40 percent of construction workers are from the Ottawa, Lawrence, Olathe and the Kansas City areas.

“We try to hire as many locals as we can,” Eric Chiasson, Ames project engineer, said. “It’s more economical and beneficial for us and the community.”

For Ottawa and Franklin County, the current construction of the new U.S. 59 has its economical benefits.

Forced out

Kansas used the power of “eminent domain” to get the land for the new highway. Eminent domain is the right of the government to take private property for public use. However, state and federal laws also require that property owners receive just compensation.

Jeffrey Coble and LouAnn Lowe lost their house to U.S. 59.

They used the money they received for their house, shop and five acres along U.S. 59 as a down payment for a another house on 50 acres nearby.

“You always hear these people who say that everyone along the highway got rich,” Coble said. “I don’t know where that’s coming from because I sure didn’t.”

For some land and home owners, the new U.S. 59 comes at a high price.

Herald staff contributing to this report include Cleon Rickel, Jodie Garcia and Vickie Moss.