The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday to mark the opening of Kansas’ first express lanes on the U.S. 69 Express corridor.
More than 80,000 vehicles travel the corridor daily and traffic is expected to increase by more than 30 percent by 2050. The $572 million design-build project, known as 69Express, added one express lane in each direction. The lanes will allow KDOT to manage congestion using tolls that vary based on traffic levels and the time of day. Traffic is reduced in the non-tolled general-purpose lanes when drivers choose to move into the express lanes and pay the toll.
Work also included widening the highway, interchange improvements at U.S. 69/167th Street and the reconstruction of U.S. 69 in Overland Park.
“69Express is the result of successful collaboration between our federal, state, and local partners,” KDOT Secretary Calvin Reed said. “Together, we’re implementing express lanes as a sustainable congestion-management solution to provide drivers with reliable travel times today and as traffic grows in the future.”
The express lanes are scheduled to open to traffic on Saturday.
Gov. Laura Kelly, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS), local leaders, and state and local officials attended the ceremony.