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[route56]

I received this message this afternoon from Julie Lorenz, KDOT's Director of Public Affairs. As the subject line indicates, Reader's Digest has given Kansas the title of best roads, and we had current and former governors and Transportation Secretaries begin the process of lobbying for a new Transportation program.

(PS, I'm not 100 percent sure if this belongs in the "General" or "Regional" board)

Good afternoon –

Reader’s Digest has ranked Kansas highways #1 in the nation.  We had three Governors and four former Transportation Secretaries at a chilly news conference this morning to celebrate the news.  Governors Hayden, Graves and Parkinson all remarked that this accomplishment was possible because of the investments Kansans were willing to make in their transportation system. As Gov. Hayden said, "These roads aren't free and they're not cheap."  They also pointed out that if we want our system to remain in good condition, additional funding is necessary.  The timing couldn’t be better as the Senate Transportation Committee is holding hearings this week on T-WORKS, the name given to the future transportation program.

Please click here to watch a video from this morning’s event http://bit.ly/9Kjng5LO

[Scott5114]

I would agree with them. Kansas roads are excellent. Very few states even come close.

[agentsteel53]

even better than Texas?  Texas's roads are incredibly boring, but excellent from a "Point A to Point B" perspective... the only way they could improve the road system is to build a bypass that decreases the distance from El Paso to Louisiana down to about 6 miles.

[Scott5114]

Texas's roads are incredibly boring, but excellent from a "Point A to Point B" perspective...

Does FM 656 ring a bell?

[agentsteel53]

Does FM 656 ring a bell?

is that the one that randomly dirted out?  Yes, moral of the story is "farm-to-market roads are not market-to-market roads"

now if only those roads had had some old button copy.

[J N Winkler]

even better than Texas?

We are ahead of Texas in terms of surface condition--TxDOT has a large mileage of asphalt roadway which has been crack-filled unto death.  Because we have a relatively small and not too fast-growing population which isn't too highly concentrated in large cities, we can stay ahead of traffic demand by building new freeways, which has been a large part of the past two highway programs.  We also fund rural two-lane relocations generously and that gives us an edge over states like Nebraska and the Dakotas which otherwise have similar characteristics of population distribution.

I am glad that Reader's Digest has given our roads the Number One accolade.  I just wish KDOT had started putting electronic construction plans online much sooner (Ohio DOT debuted E-plans in 1998, while KDOT waited until 2008):  then we would have been Number One for interesting construction plans with brief eclipses when TxDOT advertised the Katy Freeway contracts and VDOT started Springfield Phases 6-7.

[Revive 755]

Does this ranking only cover pavement condition, or does it also include congestion, signage and stoplight issues?  Someone's got some work to do around Lawrence to deal with congestion.

Not sure I'd rank Kansas as well if rest area conditions were included; Iowa seems to do better on services at rest areas.

[agentsteel53]

stoplight issues

based on this criterion, I would venture to say that Yukon has the best roads.  There may be fewer than 50 red lights in the entire territory, most of them in Whitehorse.  

also, speed limits do not appear to be enforced.  The snowplow crews are incredibly competent.  The rest areas are plentiful and no one cares if you spend more than two hours there.  Oh, and there's northern lights.

Yukon, #1 roads in North America  

[corco]

Cross-Kansas has become my favorite way to get across the Great Plains, and the roads are a huge part of that. I enjoy driving across the great state of Kansas.

[agentsteel53]

I tend not to have much of a preference for how to get across the plains; so long as I can find a road I have not driven on, great.  If it is a US highway, even better.

(tough to find old US cutouts on state routes!)

[J N Winkler]

Does this ranking only cover pavement condition, or does it also include congestion, signage and stoplight issues?  Someone's got some work to do around Lawrence to deal with congestion.

The South Lawrence Trafficway has yet to be built, but not for lack of trying.  According to a KSN TV news article, the four criteria Reader's Digest used included pavement surface condition, bridge condition, congestion, and safety.

Twenty years ago, before the last two highway programs got under way, Kansas was much more of a stoplight jungle than it is now.  For starters, you couldn't cross Wichita on Kellogg Avenue (US 54) without dealing with at least 10 stoplights.  Now they are almost all gone.  KDOT chipped in a little to make that happen, but the heavy lifting was done by the City of Wichita, so the number-one ranking is a triumph for Kansas municipalities as well as KDOT.

[Scott5114]

Jake: FM 656 is the one that thwarted our attempts at clinching Briscoe and Floyd counties

[PAHighways]

Sheesh, every magazine is coming out with their own Best/Worst Roads list.  I guess Cat Fancy's is next month.

[leifvanderwall]

I think Florida's highways are #1, but I have not been in Kansas enough to really judge its roads. I think on any list my homestate of Michigan would be at the very bottom.

[agentsteel53]

I think Florida's highways are #1, but I have not been in Kansas enough to really judge its roads. I think on any list my homestate of Michigan would be at the very bottom.

Florida is definitely one of the most fun highway systems to explore, but alas their US routes aren't signed as clearly as they were 20 years ago.

[TXtoNJ]

Cross-Kansas has become my favorite way to get across the Great Plains, and the roads are a huge part of that. I enjoy driving across the great state of Kansas.

Now if they would just raise the speed limit to 80 mph west of Salina, it would be perfect.

[Hellfighter]

Cross-Kansas has become my favorite way to get across the Great Plains, and the roads are a huge part of that. I enjoy driving across the great state of Kansas.

Now if they would just raise the speed limit to 80 mph west of Salina, it would be perfect.

Doesn't that section of I-70 require a rebuild before it could be raised?

[J N Winkler]

I-70 west of Salina has been reconstructed and is good to go.  The Legislature just hasn't seen fit to raise the speed limit (75 MPH has been proposed in the past).

[agentsteel53]

I-70 west of Salina has been reconstructed and is good to go.  The Legislature just hasn't seen fit to raise the speed limit (75 MPH has been proposed in the past).

it used to be 80 back in the original days of it opening until 1973! 

the other section of I-70 that meets the "west of Salina" description could also use an upgrade.  I believe it is 70 through the canyon between Salina and Richfield, Utah but given the traffic levels, it could be 90 without much of a problem.

[J N Winkler]

It used to be 80 back in the original days of it opening until 1973!

Do you have photographic proof?

[Brandon]

I-70 west of Salina has been reconstructed and is good to go.  The Legislature just hasn't seen fit to raise the speed limit (75 MPH has been proposed in the past).

it used to be 80 back in the original days of it opening until 1973! 

the other section of I-70 that meets the "west of Salina" description could also use an upgrade.  I believe it is 70 through the canyon between Salina and Richfield, Utah but given the traffic levels, it could be 90 without much of a problem.

Are you sure you aren't confusing I-70 with the Kansas Turnpike (granted that part of I-70 is the KTA)?  The KTA was 80mph while other Kansas freeways were 75mph.

[agentsteel53]

I may very well have gotten the two confused, and I alas cannot find the photo in question.

I just remember the sign is dark color with white legend (it's a b/w photo) and has, on one line "80 M. P. H." spelled out, and it was hung on an overpass over the lanes in question.

[J N Winkler]

The only Kansas 80 MPH sign picture I know of is one I posted (which is still available through Richie Kennedy's picture gallery, I think).  It shows a ground-mounted sign with a two-line legend--"80 MPH MAXIMUM/40 MPH MINIMUM"--but the Michigan Street overpass is in the background.  It comes from the KTA's 1957 or 1958 annual report.  It is black-and-white, but I think the original sign was white on black.

[agentsteel53]

can you email me that photo?