Wichita Chamber, South Central Kansas Transportation Coalition Working to Improve K-96 corridor in east Wichita.

The Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and the South Central Kansas Transportation Coalition are among a number of partners working with the Kansas Department of Transportation, the City of Wichita and the Federal Highway Administration to improve the K-96 corridor in east Wichita. The South Central Kansas Transportation Coalition was founded by the Chamber in partnership with the Regional Economic Area Partnership.

“This is an important project as our region continues to grow,” said John Rolfe, Chamber President and CEO. “The project will help to meet the transportation needs of our whole region.”

Community engagement will be vital to this project. To facilitate those efforts, K-DOT has launched a website to collect input and inform the public about the project, www.k96improvements.com. The public will be invited to two community open houses where K-DOT and its partners will seek input on the environmental assessment findings and early design concepts.

The project extends from the K-96 and I-135 interchange near Hydraulic Street, approximately 9.5 miles east/southeast to north of the K-96/US54/400 interchange.

More than 50,000 vehicles use K-96 each day, and it is forecast to carry 100,000 vehicles by 2050. Easing congestion on the road will regulate travel during peak periods, creating fewer idling cars on the roadway and reducing emissions.

The project will also ease growing safety, travel-time and congestion issues along K-96, where on average more than 200 accidents have occurred per year between 2015 and 2020. Improved interchanges will reduce queuing on sideroads and ramps.

The project is in the environmental review and preliminary design stages. A final design is expected by mid-2025.

For project updates, follow K96 Improvements on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, or sign up for the newsletter on the K-96 Improvements website.