Telling those gathered for the April 7 City Council meeting his agency has “tried hard to be responsive and sensitive to (Greensburg’s) rebuilding concerns,” Kansas Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Jerry Younger nonetheless told the crowd the recently submitted requests for additional access points from the planned US 54 freeway into town had been rejected by KDOT.
   Saying the “extra access points” recently sought by Greensburg’s business community, including a “tight diamond” interchange at Main Street, “just didn’t make sense,” Younger told those present KDOT would “stick with the Modified Concept A” arrived at last fall.  The one modification would be an additional eastbound exit at Olive Street, the other such exit being on the west end of town.  Westbound traffic would have opportunity to exit just east of town, entering on Ohio Street.
   Councilman Rex Butler directly asked Younger, “So the Main Street access points are a dead issue?”
   “Yes,” Younger bluntly replied.  “It (additional exits requested) looks on paper like it’s all going to fit, but geometrically, it won’t.”
   Before actually stating the latest requests had been denied, Younger had indicated KDOT’s “investment” in actualizing the Modified Concept A approach was significant enough to have reached the point of no return.
   “We’re in the process of buying right-of-way properties (in the planned freeway corridor between Ohio and Illinois Streets) and have bought 14 properties so far, out of 55 identified to this point in the corridor,” Younger said.  “We’ve spent $1.5 million so far on these properties and expect to spend up to $5 million.”
   Younger also said the request to move the interchange now mapped out for the Brenham vicinity west approximately four miles to coincide with the Centerview blacktop has been “put on hold to see how the industrial park develops.”  The business community had sought relocation of the interchange to Centerview to accommodate the nearby 288-acre industrial park being developed, as well as the new BTI dealership on the other side of the highway.
    As for possibly compensating the City for the necessity of later moving Davis Park and the municipal swimming pool to make way for the planned freeway, Younger said KDOT had decided to “defer” the matter for the time being.
   Local attorney Kevin Stephenson asked Younger, “Have Senator Roberts or Congressman Moran weighed in on this?”
   “No, they haven’t,” Younger replied.
   “They will,” Stephenson said.  (Stephenson, in fact, later forwarded to The Signal a letter he sent last Thursday to Kansas’ congressional delegation and Governor Sebelius.)
   Shortly after the adjournment of the meeting, Stephenson expressed to the Signal his frustration over what he viewed as duplicity by KDOT.
   “Before we submitted these (latest) plans they’d (KDOT) only bought six properties,” Stephenson said.  “Now they’ve bought 14, or eight more so they could say they’re too far invested and can’t turn back.  They did that on purpose.”
    Stephenson also indicated he’d just gotten off the phone with Greensburg native and Wichita restaurateur Larry Burke, who responded to the news of Younger’s announcement by saying Ron Wright (owner of former Jayhawk Motel in Greensburg) had indicated he would “pull $2 million of investment (for another motel) out if this (request for additional exits) fails.
   “The business group has been assured they (KDOT) will support what turns out to be in the best interest of the community, but I don’t think KDOT even seriously looked at those plans we submitted.  There was no discussion of anything but their pet project.  They just blew us off.”
    Absent from the meeting due to prior commitments, City Administrator Steve Hewitt told The Signal Thursday morning that though he hadn’t spoken to Younger, he did receive word of KDOT’s stance on the additional exits in a conversation with District Engineer Bob Cook a week earlier.  He summed up that discussion by saying Cook had indicated KDOT “looked at the option the business group submitted and it didn’t fit.”
   His reaction to the agency’s decision was more measured than that of Stephenson, Hewitt saying, “I’m not the one it affects the most, but we need to have this thing wrapped up and completed.  I think it’s not something we can continue to bicker with.  Is this (Modified Concept A) the right plan, the wrong plan?  I don’t know.  But at least now businesses know how this will be laid out and can plan accordingly.
   “I know KDOT got a lot of input from the community on this and we went back and forth several times.  We got a lot more from them than other small towns would normally get.”
   Hewitt also said he was understanding of KDOT’s reluctance to commit at this point to the east interchange being moved back to Centerview.
   “I think they’re willing to move that back once an industrial park actually develops,” he said.  “But they don’t do plans on what might happen.  So if we can get that developed I think we stand a good chance of getting what we want there.”