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Due, in large part, to a thriving agriculture and energy sector the state’s economy has ridden through the latest economic storm with little turbulence. But the same industries that benefit our economy have been highlighted as the primary sources of pressure on the state’s transportation infrastructure.
According to “Connecting Rural and Urban America”, a national report released earlier this week, Kansas’s infrastructure is stressed by its agriculture and energy industries and recent military expansion. The solution, however, is not to simply build more roads but to develop and incorporate other modes of transportation. The report was prepared by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which represents state transportation departments in all 50 states.
“Solving our rural capacity challenges must also include non-highway modes, including aviation, public transit and rail,” Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller said Monday in Wichita.
According to the report, Kansas is not the only state with infrastructure stressed by agriculture and industry, increased trade between U.S., Canada and Mexico will “require the nation to expand its highways and transportation options.”
Rural Roads
Because must of the state’s residents live in rural areas, Kansas faces a second challenge of connecting rural and urban areas providing residents with a means to reach all parts of the state.
Rural Kansans, like our urban neighbors, need reliable transportation options to connect them to their communities, to vital services and to markets for their agricultural products,” Svaty said.
“Because we are a predominantly rural state, it’s even more important that we focus on the quality and extent of our rural transportation infrastructure because it is the foundation on which our economy and the security of our people rests.”
Must of the agriculture industry moves along rural, dirt roads. Those roads are often maintained at the most local level and funded by local tax payer dollars. With more tractor-trailers being used by farming operations, producers often opt to transport their grain a longer distance to earn a larger profit. The state’s thriving cattle industry also contributes to the number of tractor-trailers on the roads due to transportation of cattle across state roads.
According to a study “Impact of Kansas Grain Transportation on Kansas Highway Damage Costs,” 80 percent of the 860 million bushels of grain taken to elevators between 1997 and 1999 were delivered by semi-tractor trailers and tandem axle trucks. Truck transportation accounted for 83 percent of all sorghum delivered and 98 percent of the corn and soybeans shipped to elevators within the state.
Other farm equipment, such as combines, tractors and spray rigs also stress rural roads and create hazardous when on larger highways. The study also notes that a reliable transportation system is crucial to the development of alternative energies.
Due, in large part, to a thriving agriculture and energy sector the state’s economy has ridden through the latest economic storm with little turbulence. But the same industries that benefit our economy have been highlighted as the primary sources of pressure on the state’s transportation infrastructure.
According to “Connecting Rural and Urban America”, a national report released earlier this week, Kansas’s infrastructure is stressed by its agriculture and energy industries and recent military expansion. The solution, however, is not to simply build more roads but to develop and incorporate other modes of transportation. The report was prepared by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which represents state transportation departments in all 50 states.
“Solving our rural capacity challenges must also include non-highway modes, including aviation, public transit and rail,” Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller said Monday in Wichita.
According to the report, Kansas is not the only state with infrastructure stressed by agriculture and industry, increased trade between U.S., Canada and Mexico will “require the nation to expand its highways and transportation options.”
Rural Roads
Because must of the state’s residents live in rural areas, Kansas faces a second challenge of connecting rural and urban areas providing residents with a means to reach all parts of the state.
Rural Kansans, like our urban neighbors, need reliable transportation options to connect them to their communities, to vital services and to markets for their agricultural products,” Svaty said.
“Because we are a predominantly rural state, it’s even more important that we focus on the quality and extent of our rural transportation infrastructure because it is the foundation on which our economy and the security of our people rests.”
Must of the agriculture industry moves along rural, dirt roads. Those roads are often maintained at the most local level and funded by local tax payer dollars. With more tractor-trailers being used by farming operations, producers often opt to transport their grain a longer distance to earn a larger profit. The state’s thriving cattle industry also contributes to the number of tractor-trailers on the roads due to transportation of cattle across state roads.
According to a study “Impact of Kansas Grain Transportation on Kansas Highway Damage Costs,” 80 percent of the 860 million bushels of grain taken to elevators between 1997 and 1999 were delivered by semi-tractor trailers and tandem axle trucks. Truck transportation accounted for 83 percent of all sorghum delivered and 98 percent of the corn and soybeans shipped to elevators within the state.
Other farm equipment, such as combines, tractors and spray rigs also stress rural roads and create hazardous when on larger highways. The study also notes that a reliable transportation system is crucial to the development of alternative energies.
Multi-Modal
The authors of the “Connecting Rural and Urban America” study suggest the solution to the problem is no more roads but the creation of more means of transportation both of commerce and person use. The state, through its 10-year comprehensive transportation plans, focus on upgrading, and in the case of K-61, re-doing roadways that provide major transportation arteries. The state is currently in the process of gathering public input on projects to be included in the next 10-year plan. KDOT is also close to completing a new bus system that will provide public transportation to and from many communities in the central part of the state. The two planned bus routes will run from Wichita to Colorado and from Wichita to Salina, which will include a stop in both McPherson and Lindsborg. The line will run twice daily and will operate with a fee system similar to the Greyhound Bus system. With both an aging population and a rural population, state officials have acknowledged the need to create more public transportation systems that can transport people from rural areas to larger metropolitan cities. The new bus lines, they say, are a start.
According to data from the study, in 2008 almost one out of eight people aged 65 and older lived in rural areas. And new and emerging cities and towns require better transportation connectivity to both attract employers and remain competitive.
People in both the energy and agriculture industry have also become looking more heavily at the state’s railroad system in an attempt to find ways to transport more by rail. Short line railroads move an annual average of 175,000 carloads of goods throughout Kansas Miller said.
Rail is a more efficient mode of transportation — railroad cars can carry an amount equal to three or four truckloads — but not all areas have the necessary access to that mode of transportation. “When you consider that each carload can haul an amount equal to three or four truckloads, you understand that railroads also save our highways a tremendous amount of wear and tear,” she said. “And that alone is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
