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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:15 AM

Back on track: Funding fix keeps project on the map

By CLEON RICKEL, Herald Senior Writer

The largest problem that loomed over the U.S. 59 project was resolved at the last minute.

A federal logjam concerning money for the highway recently was broken when the U.S. Senate voted to transfer $8 billion into the Highway Trust Fund, which reimburses states for highway spending. Leaders in the U.S. House, which had passed a similar bill, said they would vote on the Senate version and send it to the White House. President Bush said he would sign it.

Kansas had faced cutting back on the last year of the 10-year comprehensive transportation program and Ottawa Mayor Gene Ramsey, who supported the plan, said he had heard concerns that the cutbacks would affect the U.S. 59 project.

The Highway Trust Fund is a major source of funds for state highway projects.

At the same time, people had cut back their driving because of sharply higher prices of fuel. As drivers cut back, it cut the amount Kansas received from its fuel taxes.

Deb Miller, Kansas Department of Transportation secretary, had assured local authorities that the road was of such a priority that it would be completed.

However, the road had been delayed and work was being done in two parts, one each in Douglas and Franklin counties.

Grading and bridge work had been under way in Franklin County for a year.

However, it is back on track, with bids to be let on Douglas County grading and bridge work and paving for the Franklin County segment of the highway this year, she said.

Letting the bids for Douglas County work alleviates anxieties that the Franklin County segment would be the “road to nowhere,” Ramsey said.

The new highway roughly parallels the east side of the existing U.S. 59 until it reaches a point near Shawnee Road in Franklin County, when it goes across country and links to I-35 northeast of Ottawa.

The Franklin County segment is scheduled to be completed next year, Miller said.

Whenever KDOT decides to build a new highway, it follows a series of steps, according to a KDOT time line.

Surveys needed to gather information for designing the project were completed in early 2003. That included reviews of sites or land with environmental, historical, cultural or other significance.

Two years later, KDOT had firmed up details of the location, design, and right of way needs.

The Kansas Department of Transportation has an established procedure it uses when it seeks property and which is described in its booklet “Real Property Acquisition for Kansas Highways, Roads, Streets and Bridges.”

Once KDOT notifies property owners it wants land, it appraises the tracts and makes written offers of just compensation, Ron Kaufman, chief of KDOT’s Bureau of Public Involvement, said.

The just compensation can include additional payments if the purchase impairs other property not taken but affected by the purchase, he said.

Most of the owners of the 46 tracts taken by KDOT in Franklin County agreed to settlements, Kaufman said.

If KDOT and the property owner can’t settle on a price, KDOT still can take the property in a process called “condemnation.”

In condemnation proceedings, KDOT files legal paperwork in the district court of the county were the property is located, Kaufman said.

A judge conducts a “consideration hearing” and decides if the taking is necessary and legal; and if so, appoints a panel to appraise the properties and decide what is just compensation.

The appraisers panel then issues a report on what its members believe to be just compensation.

If either the agency or land owner remain dissatisfied, either can file an appeal in district court, Kaufman said.

Four properties were condemned in Franklin County, he said.

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Back on track: Funding fix keeps project on the map

By CLEON RICKEL, Herald Senior Writer

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.