Budget cuts slow K-96 safety upgrades

September 21, 2010|By Megahn Snyder & Dave Roberts | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

Budget cuts are slowing some safety upgrades to K-96.

Last year, Eyewitness News told you about a plan to install cables along the four miles of highway from I-135 to Rock Road.

The cables are designed to stop vehicles from going through the medians and hitting oncoming traffic. But a smaller KDOT budget has moved that project to February when the state opens up bids.

Work could start next spring.

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Original Story, May 20

Cables in the median may have prevented many accidents. In fact, some cable barriers flex up to 12 feet to allow drivers to safely stop their vehicles without re-entering traffic.

Kansas Department of Transportation has plans to install cables on K-96, a busy highway that runs through Wichita.

Those cables line the highways of Colorado and Missouri. The department says K-96's median is small and traffic there is heavy, and the cables could stop a car from crossing over into on coming traffic.

But those plans were stalled because of budget constraints. The cost of the cables would be $125,000.

Officials hope they can jump start the cable project again next year. However, the safety cables might not go on the median of K-254, where the most recent accident happened where a car crossed the median.

The reason, that median is very wide. Officials say with a wide enough median, a car should be able to stop before causing an accident. In some cases, cable barriers have been known to stop tractor-trailers.

If the Department of Transportation is able to install the cables, they'll first go up on K-96, and possibly other highways as well.

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