Appendix E: PUBLIC FACILITIES, PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMMING, PUBLIC REVENUE AND THE FINANCING OF CAPITAL FACILITIES, CONSERVATION PRACTICES AND DEVELOPMENT HAZARDS 1. Public Facilities State and Interstate Highway System McPherson County is served by several state highways, including Interstate 135. Interstate 135 runs north-south through McPherson county and provides vehicular connection to Salina and I- 70 to the north and to Wichita and I-35 to the south. I-135 is located two and one-half miles east of Lindsborg, it skirts the east edge of McPherson and is also located about one and one-half miles east of Moundridge. Highway U.S. 56 runs east-west through McPherson County. Highway 56 connects the cities of Canton, Galva, McPherson, and Windom within McPherson County and provides vehicular links to Lyons, Ellinwood, and Great Bend to the west and to Hillsboro, Marion, Strong City, and I-35 to the east. Highway 56 is a major route for the transport of cattle from the Flint Hills region of mid-east Kansas to the cattle feed lots located in western Kansas. Other goods are also transported over Highway 56. Kansas State Highway 4 is located in the northwestern portion of the county and provides a link between Lindsborg and smaller towns to the west and a linkage to I-135. Kansas State Highway 61 is a major link between McPherson and the City of Hutchinson to the southwest. There are plans under development to reconstruct Highway 61 to possibly a 4-lane divided highway. Kansas Highway 61 is the most-traveled highway in McPherson County after I-135, having a traffic count in May 2000 of 4,695 vehicles per day at a location just south of Inman, as compared to 7,010 vehicles per day counted on the north bound lanes of the south I- 135 interchange at Moundridge and 7,060 vehicles per day in the south bound lanes of I-135 just south of the McPherson County/Saline County line the same year. In recent years, there has been discussion of developing a full-fledged U.S. Highway 56 by-pass route around the City of McPherson. At the present time there is heavy truck traffic traveling along U.S. Highway 56 (Kansas Avenue within the City of McPherson). A large portion of this truck traffic consists of cattle trucks transporting feeder cattle from the pasture land of the Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas to the large-operation cattle feedlots in western Kansas counties. There is also hazardous materials truck traffic traveling along U.S. Highway 56. The City of McPherson has favored the building of a bypass route to the north of the city. This proposed highway 56 bypass would intersect existing highway 56 at areas both east and west of the city, would intersect with a proposed new interstate interchange with Interstate I-135 at the current location of Mohawk Road, and would expand on the right-of-way of Mohawk Road to initially accommodate a “super two” traffic lane configuration with the potential for future upgrading to a divided four-lane system at some time in the future. 1 Favored by the county is a U.S. 56 Highway bypass that utilizes the existing state highway 61 (U.S. 81 bypass) already in place in King City Township, south of the city of McPherson. This appears to be a more logical option because of the following factors: 1. Approximately 1/3, or about three miles, of this route is already built and in place, with an interchange connection to I-135. 2. There are already in place a bridge over Turkey Creek and grade separations over intersecting roads and the Union Pacific Railroad in that area. 3. There is an existing connection with state highway 61 along that route providing an easy traffic connection to and from Hutchinson. 4. Fewer rural residential home sites would need to be relocated or adversely affected by highway traffic noise. To build a U.S. Highway 56 bypass route to the north, however, would entail the construction of a new interchange connection at I-135 and Mohawk road, two new bridges over two creeks - Dry Turkey Creek and Bull Creek, two new highway-railroad crossings, and more rural residential home sites would be impacted. County Highway System Although ranked 20th in the state in population ranking, McPherson has the fourth-place ranking among counties for miles of paved roads and the seventh-place ranking in total miles of public roads maintained. McPherson County maintains 280 miles of asphalt paved county roadways, 24 miles of concrete surfaced roadways (old U.S. 81 highway), and 62 miles of gravel surfaced roadways. In relation to the county roadway system, the county maintains 450 bridges having a span of 20 feet or more and 716 bridges with spans of less than 20 feet. McPherson County has one of the largest inventories of roads and bridges among all of the state’s non-metropolitan rural counties. This system has been designed and built over the decades as a major component of the county agricultural infrastructure system. Arterial roads should not be hindered by multiple accesses, which hinder their primary function. Access to arterial roads should be very limited, with intersecting collector roads spaced about 1,000 to 1,500 feet apart. Thus, intersecting collector roads should be limited to about three to four per mile. This approach has several benefits: 1. Fewer locations at which traffic conflicts occur. 2. Drivers have adequate time to respond to one access conflict at a time. 3. Conflict between turning vehicles and other vehicles is reduced. 4. Turbulence in the traffic flow is reduced with less stop-and-go traffic. 5. Traffic delays are reduced, thus reducing travel time. 6. Roadway capacity is preserved; thus, the public investment in the system is also preserved. 7. Community appearance improved and rural character preserved. 2 8. Investment in private property is preserved since investment in industrial, commercial, and office development is not reduced due to traffic congestion. It is apparent that arterial-through roads should not be degraded by overburdening them with access points, as they then become clogged with vehicle conflict points and are degraded to being only able to serve local road access needs. This in turn brings about a perceived need for a new arterial-through road in the area. This phenomenon has been called the “transportation land use cycle.” It is depicted in Illustration 1: The Transportation Land Use Cycle. Illustration 1. The Transportation Land Use Cycle 3 Two locations in McPherson County where the function of arterial roads has been degraded due to numerous access conflicts are the one-half mile of Highway 56 between old highway 81 Bypass and 13th Avenue and along the east side of 14th Avenue in the north half mile between Comanche Road and Dakota Road (800 block). Most county roads at present have a right-of-way of 66 feet, 33 feet each side of the section lines. Additional right-of-way beyond 66 feet may be required based on future transit needs. All new housing subdivisions of land that border on a county road should be required to provide, by dedication, additional right-of-way to bring the road right-of-way width to a minimum of 50 feet for proposed roads within the area of the proposed subdivision. Direct access from abutting properties should be strictly controlled and access permits should be revocable, since future traffic conditions may warrant the establishment of a controlled access situation. Direct access to non-farm properties should be strictly controlled and access permits should be revocable, since future traffic conditions may warrant the establishment of a controlled access situation. McPherson City/County Airport The McPherson City/County airport is located on the west side of McPherson in McPherson and has been recently expanded. It is located west of Kansas Highway 153 (Highway 81 Bypass) and south of Avenue A/Kiowa Road. The airport has a 5,500 feet concrete runway able to accommodate 30,000-pound aircraft. There is a 15,000 square foot concrete apron, which will accommodate 21 aircraft tie-downs, three of which are for turbine jet aircraft. There are four hangers at the airport with a total storage area of 42,240 square feet. The McPherson Airport Authority is responsible for reviewing, updating, and adopting an airport plan. The goal of the airport authority is to maintain viable airport service to the community. The airport houses a Fixed Base Operator, Mac Air Corporation, which provides air-freight service and air-charter service to the community. Avis Rent-a-Car rental service is available at the airport. Railroads in the County The Union Pacific Railroad has several main lines traversing McPherson County. The Kansas and Oklahoma Railway serves the local market providing rail linkage for the Union Pacific main line, the BN/SF Railroad and for industries located in McPherson and at the petroleum and liquid petroleum gas facilities located at Conway, west of McPherson. (See Figure 6, County Road Map, for the location of county roads, state and federal highways and for rail lines that transverse the county.) Solid Waste Collection and Disposal 4 Prior to the mid 1970's there were numerous open solid waste disposal sites in McPherson County. Each of the incorporated cities was responsible for its solid waste collection and disposal. Each of the incorporated cities had their own solid waste disposal site. Rural families either brought their solid waste to the nearest municipal site or discarded their solid waste on their own property by burning or other methods.