Leavenworth County approves KDOT supplemental agreement for Tonganoxie Road safety project

Leavenworth County commissioners voted to approve a Kansas Department of Transportation supplemental agreement for the second phase of the Tonganoxie Road high‑risk rural roads project.

The county’s public works director described the work as shoulder widening, removal of about a foot of pavement at the outer edge to bench down, paving five feet on each side of the roadway, adding rumble strips and creating cleared, flatter ditches and clear zones. The improvements cover two adjacent high‑accident segments of Tonganoxie Road; the south segment carries more than 3,000 vehicles per day and is the county’s highest location for serious injury crashes, the director said.

Why it matters: the project is intended to reduce crash severity where roadside obstacles and narrow shoulders have contributed to repeated serious crashes. Federal funding covers most costs under KDOT’s program, while the county must cover local match and certain acquisition or overbid costs.

Key details - Work: shoulder reconstruction, five feet of new pavement on each side, rumble strips, ditching and tree clearing to create 1:4 slopes and flatter bottom clear zones. One culvert replacement will require a short full‑width closure. - Funding: KDOT awarded the two phases; phase 2 was announced with a KDOT award amount of $1,151,000 (KDOT share cited at 90% in the presentation). The public works director told the board total KDOT funding across the two tied phases will be roughly $2,600,000 and the county will pay the remaining share. The supplemental agreement caps the county’s obligation at the announced award for phase 2; if bids come in higher the county may be responsible for overruns above the capped award amount. - Schedule and procurement: KDOT will administer the federal bidding; the county does not directly solicit the construction bids. Staff expected bidding to conclude by the end of the month and construction to begin around May 1, weather permitting. KDOT ties the two phases together so a single contractor will perform both segments, reducing the chance of two separate seasonal closures. - Traffic impacts: the project will include a posted hard‑surface detour and a temporary closure of Mitchell Road to east‑west traffic during parts of construction. Staff said emergency vehicles will be allowed through most of the work but the narrower work zone will require extra enforcement to deter drivers from entering active work areas.

County discussion focused on safety gains and on long lead times for federally funded projects. The board approved the supplemental agreement on a roll‑call vote.

Provenance: the county public works director presented the item and answered commissioners’ questions about scope, funding and timeline.