15 February 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — On Tuesday, the Wichita City Council approved a federal grant application through the RAISE grant program. It would bring in $2.4 million of federal funding, and $600,000 would be paid for by the City of Wichita.
If the grant is approved, the money would go to update West Kellogg and the Eisenhower Parkway interchange, which is 40 years old.
“It’s one of the higher crash rate intersections in the city, and the infrastructure is deteriorating,” said Wichita City Engineer Gary Janzen.
If you are driving down by Kellogg and Ridge Road, you can see the roads need repair.
“The guard rails are tarnished, it is pretty beaten up, there is a lot of stain water on there,” said Wichita City Councilman Jeff Blubaugh.
Blubaugh said there are also safety concerns for drivers.
“A lot of times you’ve got a lot somebody trying to run one light, and somebody stopped at another one causes a lot of rear ends, causes a lot of t-bones, there is a lot of issues over there,” said Blubaugh.
Janzen said they’ve tried to optimize traffic signals, but it hasn’t improved the problem.
The City won’t hear back on the potential funds until June, but city leaders hope it will be approved to bring updates to the roads, but also sidewalks, bike trails, and the water system.
“Our goal is to utilize this money if we are able to get it to make our city safer and also make that area just more appealing,” said Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple.
Another piece to the project would be adding public transit.
Currently, Wichita does not have public transportation in and out of the airport.
But the City hopes this grant can bring a transit hub to the airport, but this project is something that could take years.