By Trish Svoboda

Today, Governor Laura Kelly, along with Kansas Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed, announced the incorporation of 17 projects aimed at modernizing and expanding highways into the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program’s (IKE) Development Pipeline, with a total investment of $932 million. The IKE program, a bipartisan initiative under the Kelly administration, is a 10-year transportation plan with a budget of $10 billion. With the announcement, preliminary engineering work on these projects may begin.

“These highway projects tackle long-standing transportation needs across the state – improving safety, expanding economic development opportunities, and strengthening our communities,” Governor Kelly said. “My administration is committed to making short- and long-term infrastructure improvements to benefit future generations of Kansans.”

Secretary Reed expressed that the feedback from Kansans was helpful in identifying the most crucial investments for both rural and urban communities. He emphasized that the selection process is adaptable to accommodate economic demands and is grounded on engineering facts, local discussions, and geographical dispersion.

“The projects being moved into the IKE Development Pipeline represent a mix of local and regional highway improvement priorities as identified by stakeholders and based on data,” said Secretary Calvin Reed. “We appreciate how the Local Consult process gives KDOT an opportunity to strengthen local partnerships, to better understand which KDOT programs matter most to communities, and to get feedback on how we can improve delivery.”