PRESS RELEASE: City Awarded $1.5 Million from KDOT Transportation Alternatives Program

Osawatomie, Kansas - The City of Osawatomie is thrilled and honored to announce that it has been awarded $1.5 million from the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Transportation Alternatives (TA) grant program for fiscal year 2023-2024. Governor Laura Kelly announced the complete list of TA awards on Thursday, October 6th, 2022 in Manhattan, Kansas.

This competitive grant program, administered by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), provides funding for a variety of projects, including pedestrian and bicycle facilities, infrastructure for non-driver access to public transportation, and overall safety and mobility improvements. Governor Laura Kelly announced that 32 projects were being awarded a total of over $28 million in this round of funding. Of the projects awarded, Osawatomie received the third largest award amount and is the only project in Miami County.

Osawatomie's project, titled "John Brown South Levee Loop Connection," aims to create better and safer infrastructure for active transportation within the Osawatomie community and includes plans for the creation of a crushed limestone pathway on top of the southern levee and a 10'-wide multi-use concrete pathway loop through central neighborhoods that connects destinations. These pathways will promote a more active community, enhance the walkability of neighborhoods and school routes, and help to guide visitors from the Flint Hills Trail Mile Zero trailhead to our downtown district and to our other community amenities.

The multi-year project indicates two planned phases between the John Brown Loop and the South Levee Loop, and it's hopeful that both projects will help to better influence pedestrian safety in upcoming street repair projects such as the full-depth reconstruction of 6th Street coming in 2023.

The John Brown Loop proposal will work to improve the connection between community destinations such as the Mile Zero trailhead for the Flint Hills Trail, the Karl E. Cole Sports Complex, Osawatomie High School and O-Zone facilities, John Brown Memorial Park and the John Brown Museum State Historic Site. These improvements will allow for greater pedestrian safety and accessibility to some of our community's most visited amenities and help to ensure student safety as they walk or bike to school.

The South Levee Loop proposal aims to create a crushed limestone pathway that connects the Flint Hills Trail and Mile Zero trailhead to the southern levee that circumnavigates the community, creating an intentional pathway for bicycle and pedestrian traffic back into our community and into our community core. The gravel pathway is proposed to connect to existing concrete infrastructure and will work to enhance bicycle and pedestrian traffic safety along those existing corridors.

(Blue Line - proposed pathway for South Levee Loop | Yellow Area - proposed area for John Brown Loop)

More information about this Transportation Alternatives project will available in the coming weeks as city staff and our engineering partners begin developing plans. Please stay tuned for the latest updates on the next phase in Osawatomie's development.