By Davi Stuhlsatz

MULVANE – State and county officials are keeping a close eye on the traffic growth in the casino area.

“The turnpike is taking some counts now,” said Mike Moriarty, Kansas Department of Transportation highway access manager. “It’s apparent from a visual standpoint, though, that traffic has increased in the area.”

County numbers reveal that traffic on south Hydraulic has increased roughly 80 percent, said David Spears, Sedgwick County public works director/county engineer. 

Traffic on Hydraulic from 111th to 119th Streets South increased from 1,047 vehicles a day to 1,808 and traffic on Hydraulic from 103rd to 111th South increased from 1,155 to 1,874 vehicles a day.

KDOT’s US-81/K-53 Casino Area Transportation Plan will seek to provide a comprehensive design, engineering, operational and policy alternatives for the casino area.

“Even though in high growth areas, development typically happens piecemeal, it’s meaningful to provide a comprehensive vision of how things should look eventually,” said Moriarty.

This past July and August a group of professional staff and stakeholders had preliminary meetings to discuss the plan. A committee was appointed to select a consultant. 

Professional Engineering Consultants was selected to conduct the planning process. Scott Dunakey, senior planner at PEC, is the project manager for the consultant team. 

The consultants, professional staff, stakeholders and elected officials will meet later this month to discuss the project scope, planning process and schedule. 

“While the schedule has not been set yet, I would expect the plan process to take about nine to 12 months,” said Moriarty.