Motoring Monday: Riverside Park

The overlook at Riverside Park

This Motoring Monday feature is a few days early as next Monday is July 4, a state holiday.

Riverside Park is located on the northeast edge of Oswego. It is an 80-acre park along a bluff that overlooks the historic Neosho Crossing and the Neosho River. The park includes the Labette County fairgrounds, an RV park, swimming pool, ball fields, a 10,000-square foot community center, shelters, gardens, tennis courts, and an observation point with spectacular views of the Neosho River Valley from the 100-foot bluff.

 The land along the bluff was purchased for the park in about 1885 by a group of local women who raised the money to pay for it by conducting food sales and ice cream socials. Many of the structures in the current park were developed and built with the help of New Deal programs during the Great Depression. 

Riverside Park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in July 2012. For more information on the park, click here.

Get out and travel this Independence Day

           If you are planning on traveling this long Independence Day weekend we want to remind you to be safe.

AAA Kansas predicts that 3.3 million people in this region will travel more than 50 miles over the holiday – the most Independence Day travelers since 2007. Kansas gas prices that are the lowest since 2005, will boost travel to a record level this year, according to Jim Hanni of AAA Kansas.  Gas prices are 44 cents or 17% lower than they were a year ago.

            KDOT and KHP safety experts caution travelers not to drink and drive. In 2014, 397 people were killed in traffic crashes throughout the nation during the Fourth of July holiday weekend and164 were alcohol-related. In 2015 in Kansas there were 417 crashes over the July 4 reporting period (6 p.m. Thursday July 2, 2015, through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 5, 2015.)  Two of those were fatality crashes and 99 were injury crashes. Of the 417 total crashes, 33 were alcohol-related.

            Law enforcement agencies from across the state will be actively watching for impaired drivers.

            “Travelers are going to take to the highway throughout the holiday weekend and we want them to take steps to make it to their destination safely,” KHP Lt. Adam Winters said. “We want people to enjoy the holiday weekend, but we want you to be safe doing so. For those planning to drink over the weekend, designate your sober driver before you celebrate. And any time you ride in a vehicle, buckle up and make sure children are in the appropriate child safety seats.”            

            Drivers can check KanDrive before leaving home for route delays and construction on www.kandrive.org. KanDrive includes camera images and interactive maps as well as links to rest areas and travel and tourism sites. KanDrive can be accessed from a smartphone.

Much of the same information can be accessed by calling 5-1-1 in Kansas or 1-

866-511-KDOT (5368) in the U.S.

Know before you go by using these services from home or in a vehicle that is parked in a safe location. If you are involved in a crash on a Kansas highway call *47 (*HP) from a cell phone for a highway patrol dispatcher or if on the Kansas Turnpike, dial *582 (*KTA) or 911. 

If you are planning on taking the Kansas Turnpike, the State Farm Safety Assist program is being expanded to provide assistance to travelers with roadside emergencies. The State Farm Safety Assist technicians are equipped with various equipment and tools prepared to help in any way they can, from assisting in tire changes, directing traffic, minor mechanical solutions and transportation to safety. All services offered are free to travelers thanks to State Farm’s sponsorship of the Kansas Turnpike’s program.

Motoring Monday: Fourth of July celebrations



Fireworks light up the sky in Wamego.

Hundreds of Fourth of July celebrations will be taking place across Kansas this weekend as well as next Monday. Celebrations in northwest, north central, northeast, southwest, south central and southeast  Kansas are highlighted below.

Goodland’s 4th of July Freedom Festival – The cattle drive begins at 4 p.m. east of Goodland. Then other events will start at 6 p.m. at the Sherman County Fairgrounds and will include carnival rides, live entertainment and food before the fireworks begin at 9:45 p.m. on July 4.

Salina’s Skyfire! Fireworks Display - A free concert will take place from 7-9 p.m. at the East Crawford Rec Area on July 4. The flag lowering and taps by the American Legion Riders will be shortly after 9 p.m.  Fireworks show will start at 10 p.m. 

Wamego Fireworks Show – Lots of events will be happening all day on July 4 around Wamego with a city carnival, car show, hot wheel races, ice cream and cake social, vocal and band concerts and parade leading up to the fireworks at the Recreation Complex at 10 p.m.

Dodge City’s Old Fashioned Fourth –  During the afternoon and early evening on July 4 at the Boot Hill Museum, there will be a watermelon feed, a seed spitting contest, a gunfight reenactment and games for the kids with a concert starting at 6:30 p.m. The fireworks will then be at Memorial Stadium at 10 p.m.

Derby Independence Day Celebration – During the evening on July 4, the celebration at High Park in Derby will include music, an ice cream social and kids’ activities with the fireworks starting at 9:30 p.m.

Fort Scott’s 4th of July – The fireworks will take place at the Fort Scott Community College about 9 p.m. on Sunday, July 3. Then on Monday, July 4, there will be a parade and other activities taking place in Fort Scott throughout the day.

Heat Stroke Awareness at the South Steps Fridays

This Friday at the South Steps Fridays event at the Kansas Capitol, there will be a heat demonstration, to show how quickly your car can heat up to a deadly level. This video, from the Kansas Department of Children and Families,  shows a demonstration from the Kansas Traffic Safety Resource Office from two weeks ago.

This week's event will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the statehouse lawn.

Work Zone Wednesday- Preservation on U.S. 40

For those born after 1960, U.S. 40 has always been a part of Interstate 70 in Kansas from the Kansas/Missouri state line west to Oakley. Not that long ago U.S. 40 stood alone as a major national highway across the USA. Now the only remaining section of U.S. 40 that's not a county road, is a stretch of former U.S. 40, from Salina to Ellsworth, and goes by the name of K-140. 

While the name may have changed the preservation of this length of roadway remains the same. Earlier this spring, work began on a bridge replacement on K-140 within the city of Brookville. The existing bridge will be removed and replaced with a new bridge. Traffic is reduced to one lane controlled by traffic signals and has a lane width restriction of 12 feet. Then beginning in early June, two more bridge replacement projects on the Ellsworth side of the Ellsworth/Saline County line began. These bridge projects follow a number are resurfacing projects conducted in the last five years and are a small but necessary part of preserving the highways here in Kansas.

The next time you are in the area take a drive on K-140 and drive on the last remnant of historical U.S. 40.

Growing turf grass

Kansas State University professor Jared Hoyle, PhD, along with researchers Jacob Reeves and Evan Alderman, are studying turf grass on a plot of land on  U.S. 283 near WaKeeney. The two-year-study is testing the right blend of turf grass that will do well on Kansas roadsides. Please watch the video and let Hoyle explain what they are doing on the side of the road, and how it will be beneficial to all roadsides in Kansas.

Motoring Monday: Cimarron National Grassland



The Point of Rocks at Cimarron National Grassland

The Cimarron National Grassland in Morton and Stevens counties comprises more than 108,000 acres and features three ecosystems (shortgrass prairie, sand-sage prairie and wooded riparian). It is the largest tract of public land in Kansas and is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

The Dust Bowl era of the 1930s left the land in poor condition so in 1938, the federal government purchased the land to restore it.  Now, bird watching, scenic driving, hunting, picnicking, camping, fishing and experiencing history are some of the activities people come to enjoy. A 30-mile self-guided auto tour travels along the Santa Fe National Historic Trail.

The third highest point in Kansas, Point of Rocks, is on the grassland at 3,540 feet. From here, Colorado and Oklahoma are visible on clear days.

For more information click here.

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