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Tonganoxie council authorizes Fourteenth Street traffic study to inform grant requests and future design
Summary
The Tonganoxie City Council voted to authorize a traffic study of the Fourteenth Street corridor, directing staff to proceed with BG Consultants Inc. The study will collect counts after school resumes, project future traffic, and support applications for up to $2 million in KDOT grants and other funding tools discussed by staff.
The Tonganoxie City Council on Monday authorized staff to hire BG Consultants Inc. to perform a traffic study of the Fourteenth Street corridor and issued a notice to proceed.
City Manager George Brakovich said the study should include vehicle counts taken after school resumes to capture more representative peak-period traffic. "The only additional component I would add here is from a strategic standpoint of when we should go out and do this traffic study, which includes count numbers, is to wait until school is back in session," Brakovich said.
The study will gather current counts and require an engineering firm to project future traffic based on anticipated land use. Brakovich told the council the consultant team expects to deliver a report roughly 45 to 60 days after data collection.
Councilmember Chris asked how long the study’s findings would remain useful and who would ultimately pay for any resulting construction. Brakovich and BG representatives said the study is intended to support grant applications and inform phased construction planning, not to commit the city to immediate construction. "A lot of the traffic study... will present the data that's there now," Brakovich said, adding that engineers will include growth projections.
BG Consultants’ representative said the study will use projected land use and is unlikely to become outdated quickly unless a major unanticipated development occurs. The consultants and staff cited potential funding sources including Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) grants (staff noted KDOT grants are typically available on an 18-month cycle), city sales-tax capital funds, county sales tax allocations, and developer participation. Staff said a KDOT grant program offers up to $2 million per project; councilmembers and staff discussed pursuing multiple phases to piece together funding.
Staff flagged several implementation details discussed during the meeting: the corridor includes roughly 250–300 acres owned by six property owners, one of them the local school district; existing plats already capture most of the roughly 80-foot right-of-way needed in portions of the corridor; connecting all the way to East Street would require additional right-of-way and coordination with the school district; and some adjacent properties are not yet inside city limits following a recent annexation at County Road 1. Brakovich said staff is also discussing a potential benefit district as a mechanism to recover construction costs from property owners and developers if the city leads construction.
Councilmember Dale moved to authorize staff to execute the Fourteenth Street traffic study with BG Consultants Inc. Councilmember Donnelly seconded. The council voted to approve the motion; staff thanked the consultants and said they would proceed with the work.
The study is intended to produce the technical information the city needs to apply for grants, negotiate developer participation and consider phased construction. The city did not commit to any construction contract or funding package at the meeting.
