The Unified Government (UG), Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT), Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly reconstructed Turner Diagonal Interchange on October 28.
“I was pleased to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony this week to celebrate the completion of the Turner Diagonal infrastructure project. This redesigned interchange at I-70 and the Turner Diagonal Freeway will improve traffic safety and create new economic development opportunities for the area,” said Mayor David Alvey. “We need this development to grow our tax base so that we can provide more and better services to our neighborhoods and the opportunity to continue to reduce our property taxes. This is an important project for Wyandotte County, and we want to thank all of our partners at the federal, state, local, and private business levels for making this possible.”
The Turner Diagonal Interchange sits at the country's crossroads – about a two-day drive from 85 percent of the US population. This location services 65,000 vehicles per day, 25 percent of which are trucks, and is very close to other major highways. The new design of the Turner Diagonal Interchange will now meet the community's needs well into the future.
The previous interchange, which featured large, winding on and off-ramps, has been reconfigured into a Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI). The removal of the old ramps opens up 300 acres of previously unused land for economic development and job creation.
The new interchange also provides better access to businesses along the Turner Diagonal, improves safety, and allows traffic to move efficiently through the corridor. In addition to these improvements, the project added a new shared-use-path and sidewalk from Riverview Avenue through the new DDI that connects to existing sidewalks at State Avenue. The project also addressed freight parking at the truck staging facilities west of the interchange.
The Turner Diagonal Project was awarded a federal BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) grant for $13 million, which makes up 46 percent of the project funding. The remainder of the project costs is funded by commitments from UG, KDOT, and NorthPoint Development.
To learn more about the Turner Diagonal’s enhancement, visit the project website at
TheTurnerDiagonal.com. To view a video of the October 28 ribbon-cutting ceremony,
click here.