Will new highway please motorists?

By JENALEA MYERS, Herald Staff Writer

The new U.S. 59 will feel very familiar.

When it opens, travelers who turn their wheels onto the fresh pavement between Ottawa and Lawrence likely will feel like they are driving on the interstate, Ron Kaufman, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said.

“I think folks will get the hang of it pretty quickly,” Kaufman said. “What drivers will experience is a four-lane, access-controlled highway so it will look much like the interstate.”

The highway will be about 18 miles long and generally will parallel existing U.S. 59, except where it bypasses to the east of Pleasant Grove and near Ottawa. The new U.S. 59 will connect with I-35 at a new interchange northeast of Ottawa.

On the road again

For travelers on the new U.S. 59, even the scenery will seem familiar because the new highway roughly follows the same path as the current highway.

What’s new, however, will be gently rolling hills and modest curves. A wide median will separate opposing directions of travel.

There will be more pavement, of course, as the highway is converted from two lanes to four with wider shoulders.

There may be more space between vehicles, with room for drivers to maneuver and more consistent speeds among all vehicles.

A limited number of interchanges means fewer ways for vehicles to enter and exit the highway, and to do so at a gradually increasing speed. Kaufman said he anticipates better flow of traffic along the highway, which will improve safety.

An increased speed limit, which likely will be 70 mph, means it might not take as long to travel from the city limits of Ottawa to the city limits of Lawrence — about a 20-minute trip one way, Kaufman estimated.

“It will take a short period of time for folks to get used to new travel habits but once it opens, it will be a nice experience,” Kaufman said.

When accidents happen

Officials expect the improved highway will mean fewer crashes and fewer fatalities — but accidents happen.

As the opening of the new highway approaches — anticipated to be sometime in 2011 — law enforcement agencies will determine how the new highway will affect their coverage.

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.

“New highways, new construction is nothing new for the highway patrol,” Butler said. “KDOT usually does an excellent job marking the roads.”

Franklin County Sheriff Craig Davis said he worries most about the old highway — about a 3 1/2 mile stretch north of Ottawa. Though the new highway will bypass the city limits of Ottawa, it is possible to exit the four-lane highway at an interchange where the old and new roads meet. 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.”