On Thursday, the Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force will meet at the Meridian Center in Newton to discuss and hear input on the future transportation needs in the state of Kansas. The task force is assigned to develop a new long-term proposal to pitch to the Kansas Legislature on the direction for highway, rail, and air transportation.

Representatives from Great Bend will present to the task force Thursday morning in hopes of reconsidering 25 projects that were delayed in 2016, one of them being the K-96 Project from Nickerson to Lyons.

Great Bend Chamber of Commerce CEO Jan Peters says the study on K-96 Highway has been looked at for years.

Jan Peters Audio

In 1989, the Kansas Legislature approved corridor highway projects that connected Wichita to central Kansas with K-96. In 2012 the Kansas Department of Transportation identified a new diagonal passage for K-96 in Reno and Rice counties as a priority. The new stretch of road would connect Hutchinson to north of Sterling, bypassing Nickerson and Sterling. The project was dropped as K-DOT funding was pulled to balance the Kansas General Budget.

Peters hopes the regional support will show the task force that this project is still needed.

Jan Peters Audio

K-DOT’s 10-year, $7.8 billion transportation program that was created in 2010 is set to end in 2020. The task force will gather information and develop a strategy to fund a new comprehensive plan.

The task force has local representation including State Representative Troy Waymaster and Kip Spray, from Venture Corporation, representing the Kansas Contractors Association.