Work to begin soon on Garden City’s U.S. 50/83 bypass

KDOT Crews in Garden City hoist a detour sign into place. 

 The U.S. 50/83/400 bypass in Garden City is one of the most heavily traveled highways in Southwest Kansas carrying almost 11,000 vehicles per day with 23 percent of those being heavy commercial traffic. 

According to Brian Kierath, Jr. with KDOT’s Bureau of Road Design in Topeka, “This project is a full depth pavement reconstruction to replace concrete and asphalt pavement, some of which dates back to 1984. Pavement age, combined with a high percentage of truck traffic makes this a necessary project at this time.”

Koss Construction is the contractor on this $11.2 million project which started Wednesday, March 20 and is expected to be completed in December. 

The project will be completed in phases and includes the following improvements:    

• The addition of turn lanes at Campus Drive facilitating smoother traffic flow;
• Improved lighting at the Fulton Street interchange;
• A dynamic messaging sign (DMS) being added along U.S. 50 east of Campus Drive to advise drivers of road conditions; 
• Improvements to the City system at Spruce Street through a partnership between the City of Garden City and KDOT which will limit road closures at this intersection for the traveling public.

KDOT crews in Garden City install signage the help drivers navigate the detour.

KDOT internships offer valuable work experiences

Lorenzo Hernandez served as a Mechanic Intern at
the Garden City district shop last summer.

Transitioning from the classroom to the workforce can be difficult for some students. While they have the knowledge and instruction to do a job, the workforce requires initiative, responsibility and problem solving that they may not have been able to practice in the classroom. But Garden City native Lorenzo Hernandez doesn’t expect that to be an issue when he graduates from Northwest Kansas Technical College in May.

Hernandez served as a Mechanic Intern at the Garden City district shop last summer, and he returned over Christmas break to get a little more experience before returning to school for his final semester.  

According to Hernandez, his time as intern was especially beneficial in helping him take what he learned in college and applying it in the shop. 

“At college, we review in the classroom and go to the lab to diagnose and work on a problem, but we have to wait for the instructor to do things," Hernandez said. "Here, they tell me what to do and I have a mentor to help me, but I really learned how things work in a shop.”

KDOT’s Equipment Mechanic Internship program began in 2015 and is designed to help students enrolled in agricultural, diesel and heavy equipment technical programs across the state be better prepared to compete for permanent positions with KDOT.  

Interns are expected to perform normal mechanic duties based on their knowledge and capabilities and are paired with a mentor who is responsible for helping train and supervisor them during their internship. 

“The program benefits students by helping them get the hands-on experience they need, but also benefits KDOT by helping the agency recruit, train and hire individuals who can contribute to a productive, skilled and diverse work environment," said Jeff Tice, KDOT Assistant Equipment Manager in Topeka. 

Tice serves as the point of contact for interested schools and instructors and coordinates with each KDOT District to place students. 

Hernandez says he has enjoyed his time at KDOT, especially working with the guys in the shop and says he would do it again. 

“You get to see and experience so much here from brand new pick-ups, to tractors, mowers and forklifts,” Hernandez said. 

If you know a student that might be interested in an internship at KDOT, contact Jeff Tice at 785-296-5942 or jeff.tice@ks.gov.

Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force – Garden City Meeting

Safety is a Key Component of Transportation – At last Thursday's meeting in Garden City, the Task Force turned its focus to safety.  KDOT provided updates on various safety campaigns targeted at driver and passenger behavior, such as increased seat belt usage. Other ways KDOT works to increase roadway safety includes adding rumble strips to help prevent lane departures and installing roundabouts to reduce serious injuries and crashes. Presentations from the meeting can be found here.

Local Testimony Highlights Need for Safety Improvements – During the public testimony, a variety of stakeholders shared personal stories that showed the importance of improving the safety of our state’s roads. Stakeholders would like to see safety improvements made to K-156 and U.S. 54, as well as the addition of passing lanes on U.S. 83 between Scott City and Garden City. Stakeholders also shared the importance of transportation infrastructure as it plays an integral role in supporting the state’s economy, including transporting agriculture products to markets. 

Task Force Goals and Discussion – Now that the Task Force has completed half of the scheduled meetings, they reviewed and discussed their stated goals, including:  

·         Define transportation needs/priorities

·         Identify how much funding will be required to meet those priorities

·         Identify funding options that can be consistently provided to meet those priorities

No changes were made to the goals and the Task Force has asked for additional discussion and information to be provided on a variety of topics, including:  city and county transportation needs; federal funding; and ways pavement life can be extended.

The next task force meeting will be at Wichita State University on Oct. 18. This meeting will focus on technology, including Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and autonomous and connected vehicles. More information about future meeting locations and directions on how to provide testimony can be found here.

Aviation, Transit, and Bike/Pedestrian Stakeholder Meetings in Wichita. Before the task force meeting in Wichita, we will hold stakeholder meetings to discuss Aviation, Transit, and Bike/Pedestrian topics from 8:00 – 9:30 a.m. Additional topic-specific stakeholder meetings will be held at future meetings in Hays and Olathe.

Beef Empire Days

From parades to a rodeo to various food-related events, there is lots to see and do as part of the
50th annual Beef Empire Days in Garden City as shown in the photos above and below.

Saddle up and head west for a one of kind celebration of Kansas beef.  Beef Empire Days in Garden City celebrates “BEEF... 50 years strong!”  and will reflect 50 years of tradition, celebration and education beginning June 1 and wrapping up on June 10.

Cattle have long been part of southwest Kansas history.  In 1951 Earl C. Brookover, armed with a degree in civil engineering and experience in irrigated farming and feedlot inspections, established a feedlot just north of Garden City.  This feedlot was the first commercial feed yard in the Midwest.  As the beef industry continued to grow, John Dohogne, Plant Manager at Garden City’s Producers Packing Company, and Earl C. Brookover began planning an event to advance the production and quality of beef, improve communications and provide continued education and promotion of beef.  Together, they began the Beef Empire Days Live and Carcass show, which first took place in 1969.

Events have come and gone over the last 50 years, but with almost 30 events over 10 days, there’s something for everyone including a live and carcass show, a carnival, athletic events, concerts and music, a ranch rodeo, a children's parade, a cattle crawl, chuck wagons, food trucks, barbecue and much more. 

Additional information and a complete schedule of all the events planned as part of this celebration are available at https://beefempiredays.com.

 

Touch a Truck event provides fun for all ages

The Touch a Truck event hosted more than 1,500 children and families and gave them a chance to experience a variety of important vehicles in person. 

More than 1,500 children and families had the chance to see and experience 30 vehicles on display at the Touch a Truck event last Saturday in Finney County. The event, which was hosted by the Finney County Public Library, hosted 24 organizations, including the Kansas Department of Transportation.

KDOT employees from the Garden City Sub Area stand in front of a KDOT dump truck.

The event kicked off with the arrival of the Life Team helicopter and included lunch for those attending and volunteers.  People of all ages seemed to enjoy seeing the vehicles up close. Children who attended the event interacted with KDOT vehicles by honking the horns and exploring the equipment. 

Young children explore the inside of a KDOT vehicle during the Touch a Truck event held in Garden City on July 1. 

Lisa Knoll, the KDOT Public Affairs Manager for Southwest Kansas, said that KDOT crew members answered questions and taught visitors about how the vehicles are used and how they help keep Kansas moving in various situations.

"The first thing most kids did was go straight for the loader," Knoll said. "They were intrigued with sitting in the loader and they loved honking the horn. We also showed them the dump truck.”

Knoll said that KDOT would love to participate in an event like this again if the opportunity arises. 

Transload Talk: Facilities receive first wind turbine blades

The Garden City transload facility was completed Jan. 4, and received its first shipment of wind turbine blades on Jan. 25. This transload facility received a $3 million grant from the State Rail Service Improvement Fund. 

Transload facilities that were first discussed by the Kansas Freight Advisory Committee in 2015 have received their first deliveries of wind energy components at Great Bend and Garden City.

Transportation Partners and Logistics (TPL) at Garden City, which was completed Jan. 4, received its first wind blades Jan. 25. BNSF Railway is the serving railroad for the facility, which received a $3 million grant from the State Rail Service Improvement Fund managed by KDOT. TPL has expanded from 50 acres in 2011 to more than 200 acres. TPL serves clients in the wind energy, solar component and other related industries.

Wind Turbine Components began arriving at the Great Bend transload facility in January. The recently-operational facility also received a $3 million grant from the State Rail Service Improvement Fund. 

The Great Bend facility, which is operated by Sherwood Companies and served by the Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, also began receiving wind blades and tower sections in January. This month, shipments of nacelles (another wind energy component) began arriving. The facility will also be receiving aggregates soon. Phase 1 of the site development comprises 18 acres. Dirt work is underway for new rail construction and rehabilitation of the existing industrial rail will be completed this month. Materials are on site and construction of the new rail yard should be completed in April.

Great Bend and Garden City emerged from 111 sites that were submitted to the Transload Facility Site Analysis team in 2015 as locations for transload facilities.