OttawaHerald.com -- Community News. Community Connections.

	Franklin County, Kansas, USA

Subscriber Services Home Delivery Gift Subscription Stop-Start Delivery Missing Paper Back Issues Newsstand Locations Shopper Locations

Advertising Services Manage Your Account Place a Classified Ad Place a Display Ad Advertise Online Business Finder Directory

Other Services Submit News Laminated Items Photos & Keepsakes Article Archives Contact Us History of the Herald Our Policies

Suggest a poll topic

2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, October 08, 2008 11:13 AM

New highway brings headaches for farmers

By CLEON RICKEL, Herald Senior Writer

The new U.S. 59 may represent progress, but it also represents inconvenience for farmers and residents who will live in the neighborhood of the new four-lane expressway.

Several farmers and residents lost property for the right of way. The Kansas Department of Transportation bought 46 tracts and six billboards in Franklin County for U.S. 59 right of way, Ron Kaufman, chief of KDOT’s Bureau of Public Involvement, said.

Thirteen properties totally were acquired and 13 residences were relocated, 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.”

Four properties were the subject of condemnation proceedings in Franklin County District Court, he said.

Three were zoned A-1 for agricultural purposes and the other was zoned A-2 Transitional Agriculture, he said.

“It probably hit me worse than about anyone,” Raymond Rumford said. The Rumfords lost about 60 acres and the new highway will divide two tracts of grain land.

The division left two triangular-shaped orphans, each about 10 acres, that are hardly worth farming any more, he said. Because of their size and location, no one else is willing to buy them, he said.

Rumford said he has to detour more than two miles to get to the divided fields — in farm machinery, two miles can be a significant time cost.

“When you dairy, every minute counts,” Rumford said. “Every minute running on the road doesn’t pay you anything.”

Franklin County Commissioner Roy Dunn, who farms north of Ottawa, lost 30 acres to the new highway.

Because the right of way sheers off one corner of his property and doesn’t leave any land hanging on the other side of the road, Dunn figures he’s luckier than many others.

“It doesn’t bother us too much,” Dunn said.

One farmer, who asked not to be identified, said that once the highway is done, it will eliminate most east-west paths across the northern part of the county.

That poses problems in moving farm equipment back and forth and even getting to town, the farmer said. That was echoed by other farmers.

The new highway will run roughly parallel to the east of the present U.S. 59 from Lawrence through Douglas County and in Franklin County until it reaches a point at about Shawnee Road. The road cuts cross-country until it strikes I-35 at about Pawnee Road northeast of Ottawa.

The new highway will cut most east-west crossings in Franklin County and limit the the number of crossings in the county.

And in the meantime, existing roads temporarily are cut as construction on the highway proceeds, Rumford said.

Having a four-lane highway as a neighbor will introduce more noise pollution to the area, Dunn said.

“I think basically you lose some of the quality of life because of the noise,” he said. “... That’s progress.”

Gene Ramsey, Ottawa mayor who helped push for a new highway, heard the opposition from farmers and rural property owners and about the stress it’s caused them.

For the most part, landowners seem to have appeared to have put the matter behind them, he said.

Because of the safety improvements, the highway will be a benefit, Ramsey said.

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

New highway brings headaches for farmers

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.