(Dodge City, KS) (westernkansasnews.com)

One of the key ingredients to Southwest Kansas’s financial success is the Highway-50 thoroughfare that connects western states with the Midwest, running directly through Garden City and Dodge City.  A proposed multi-million dollar, multi-year Highway-50 expansion project may prove to be vital to sustaining the area’s economic stability. 

Residents can participate in an online survey through Friday on the proposed Highway-50 expansion, from Cimarron to Dodge.  KDOT spokesperson Kirk Hutchinson reports that approximately 300 people have taken the survey since mid-June, responding to questions regarding what kinds of highway improvements should be included and which potential impacts are of greatest concern.  Hutchinson says the goal of the project is to build a four-lane expressway from Cimarron to Dodge City, on or near the existing highway alignment. It is one of six Southwest Kansas highway modernization and expansion projects that are funded through T-WORKS, Kansas’ 10-year, $8 billion transportation program designed to create jobs, preserve highway infrastructure, and provide multimodal economic development opportunities across the state. KDOT plans to begin building the improvements to US 50 in Gray and Ford Counties during 2018.

The survey can be viewed online at www.us50survey1.com.