Petition to Lower the Speed Limit on US-24/US-40 (State Avenue) from 65 mph to 50 mph from 142nd St to 171st St.
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) is a state government organization whose fundamental responsibility is the maintenance of public roadways of the State of Kansas. The City of Basehor wishes to express its appreciation for everything KDOT does for Kansas and for Basehor. Without KDOT, many of the improvements Basehor has completed in the last year would not be possible, including improvements to 155th Street. The City of Basehor and members of the public respectfully request reconsideration of KDOT’s previous decision to not lower the speed limit along a segment of US-24/US-40 (State Avenue), and further request KDOT lower the speed limit from 65 mph to 50 mph from 142nd St to 171st St at the earliest possible opportunity for the following reasons:
• Student Safety: KDOT completed a speed study in June of 2024 for the section of US-24/US-40 (State Avenue) from 142nd St to 166th St. That speed study concluded that school aged drivers were disproportionately involved in crashes at the 155th Street intersection of US-24/US-40 (State Avenue). Instead of reducing the speed, the recommendation to keep students safe was for KDOT staff to “reach out” to the high school regarding the need to exercise caution when high school students are driving to the area. As of January 23, 2025, the City of Basehor is not aware of any proactive outreach to the high school regarding this matter. Additionally, the City of Basehor believes that the student drivers in the community deserve better driving conditions than a commitment to proactive outreach.
• Critical Crash Rate: That same speed study found “the entire segment as a whole has a crash rate that is higher than the Critical Crash rate.” The Critical Crash Rate “provides a statistical threshold to determine if the crash rate for a location is above the rate that would normally be expected.”
• Fatal Accidents: KDOT released a press release in July of 2024, only one month after the completion of the aforementioned safety study, that is titled, “Speeding can be costly, wreck lives.” This press release states, “the chance of death or serious injury doubles for every 10 mph over 50 mph a vehicle travels, and speeding is a factor in almost one-third of all traffic fatalities nationwide.” The full press release can be found here: https://www.ksdot.gov/Assets/wwwksdotorg/Headquarters/PDF_Files/pressrelease2024/Speeding_wreck_lives.pdf
• KDOT’s Access Management Policy: KDOT has an Access Management Policy (AMP) that outlines requirements, expectations, and additional information related to the review process for when a request is made to establish access to a KDOT controlled roadway. In KDOT’s own AMP, a 65-mph speed limit in a similarly situated development that exists within Basehor City limits between 142nd Street and 158th Street is not even contemplated in the policy. This means that if a similar development were to be constructed under similar circumstances, a 65-mph speed limit would not even be considered.
• Precedence in Neighboring Communities: There are two instances on the same roadway (State Avenue) in Kansas City as well as Tonganoxie where the speed limit is at 50 mph or lower in areas immediately adjacent to the requested area of speed reduction in Basehor. In these areas, there is no change in the design of the roadway or conditions of the roadway that explain this significant discrepancy. The City also encourages KDOT to contemplate consistency in the speed limit of the adjoining sections of this request.
• No Financial Impact: The City of Basehor recognizes the financial impact of a speed change, including replacement of signage and the possibility of additional safety components such as a flashing beacon, or other reasonable safety countermeasures to alert drivers of the reduced speed and signalized intersection. The City of Basehor is willing to cover the cost of signage and a flashing beacon. This petition should be in no way construed as a request to remove either of the traffic signals at 155th Street or 158th Street.
The City of Basehor and members of the public respectfully request reconsideration of KDOT’s previous decision to not lower the speed limit along a segment of US-24/US-40 (State Avenue), and further request KDOT lower the speed limit from 65 mph to 50 mph from 142nd St to 171st St at the earliest possible opportunity.
If you wish to support this petition, please fill out the information below. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Basehor City Hall at 913-724-1370 or info@cityofbasehor.org.
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