Neighbors Hope Project Eases Congestion on Maize Road

January 26, 2010

by Denise Hnytka (WICHITA, Kan)

A public meeting was held Tuesday about a construction project planned for Maize Road. It affects people who drive on Maize from Kellogg south to Pawnee.

That area is mainly residential, and during the day, traffic appears to flow just fine. But it is during the before and after work hours that people who live here say this two-lane road can get very congested.

Rachel Neil lives near Maize and Pawnee, where a four-million dollar road project is about to begin. She says some of the problem has to do with a child care center nearby, especially when parents are dropping off and picking up their kids.

"It's horrible when people are trying to take a left out of there," she said. "People get pretty frustrated pretty quickly."

The plan is to widen the road to two lanes in each direction, plus a center turn lane. A new traffic light will also be put up at Maize and Pawnee. Sidewalks along Maize will also be paved.

"I just get nervous because you're cutting into the neighborhood, and the highway gets closer to the houses," said Neil. "That's scary too. That won't help the people close to the road, but it will help the neighborhood out as far as congestion-wise."

The project will also include improvements to drainage. Most of the funding for the project, $3.6 million, will come from federal stimulus funds.

Construction on the project is expected to start around the beginning of February with the paving work wrapping up in October. Wichita city officials say landscaping, turf restoration and clean-up will be done by July of 2011.

As the project gets underway, Maize Rd. south of May Ave. will be closed for seven days. Traffic southbound on Maize Rd. will be detoured to Lark Lane at Carr Ave. and northbound traffic will be detoured to Lark Lane at Pawnee.

Officials say during the second phase of the project, traffic south of Carr will be limited to one southbound lane. During the third and final phase, there will be one lane of traffic in each direction.

The city says traffic signal timing and Kellogg and Maize will also be adjusted during construction due to changes in traffic patterns. Maize south of Kellogg normally carries about 16,000 vehicle a day.

|

|

|