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Appropriations panel backs Francis proviso to delay a KC‑area highway project and shift funds to rural districts
Summary
The House Appropriations Committee approved a proviso directing KDOT to delay a not‑yet‑let $130–150 million Kansas City‑area preservation/expansion project scheduled to begin in 2028, reallocating $50 million each to District 6 (Southwest Kansas) and District 4 (Southeast Kansas) and splitting remaining savings between North Central and Northwest Kansas for shoulders and passing lanes.
Representative Scott Francis persuaded the House Appropriations Committee to adopt a transportation proviso aimed at directing the Kansas Department of Transportation to rebalance investments after members argued metropolitan areas have received a disproportionate share of modernization and expansion work.
Francis told the committee he had identified a pattern in which metropolitan districts far exceeded their 10‑year targeted spend while many rural districts lagged. He proposed delaying "the next preservation project of a value between $130,000,000 to $150,000,000 that is not let and bid" in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and allocating the funds saved by that cancellation: $50 million to District 6 in Southwest Kansas and $50 million to District 4 in Southeast Kansas, with any remaining amounts split…
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