U.S. 69 Crawford County Project Archive

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Project History

August 9, 2023, Update

In response to feedback from communities and residents along U.S. 69 in Crawford County, the KDOT has stopped any further progress on developing the western alignment of the Crawford County Corridor (also known as the Pittsburg Bypass). This includes stopping design work and planned construction of the U.S. 160 improvements (Phase 3) of the Crawford County Corridor. That project would have extended U.S. 160 to the west along 590th Avenue.

Discussions about improving the U.S. 69 corridor have been happening for decades. The project would expand an 18-mile corridor of U.S. 69 to a four-lane freeway, starting at the Cherokee-Crawford county line and continuing north of the City of Arma.

While there have been ongoing conversations through KDOT’s Local Consult process and individual project meetings, until this spring, KDOT had not had a dedicated conversation with communities along the corridor about the project in more than 10 years.

Later this year, KDOT will start a new corridor study to re-evaluate the current highway and identify the current and future needs of the communities along U.S. 69 in Crawford County. The study will include an updated traffic and safety analysis to help determine viable options to improve the Crawford County Corridor.

To help inform the study, KDOT will establish a stakeholder group composed of representatives of the cities, county and businesses along the corridor to hear a variety of perspectives on the priorities in the region. The study will include a robust public outreach effort and multiple opportunities for public input. It will take 12-18 months to complete the new study.

The U.S. 69 Crawford County Corridor project, also known as the Pittsburg Bypass, has been a topic of discussion for decades. Despite ongoing conversations through KDOT’s Local Consult process and individual project meetings, a dedicated conversation with communities along the corridor had not occurred in over 10 years until 2023.

2023-Present

In May 2023, KDOT engaged with leaders from the City of Frontenac, Crawford County, City of Pittsburg, City of Arma, and Cherokee County to reassess community needs and priorities. Feedback from these meetings led KDOT to halt progress on the western alignment of the corridor, including stopping design work and planned construction on U.S. 160 improvements.

KDOT had secured a $13 million federal earmark to fund a small phase of the U.S. 69 bypass. This phase, as originally designed, would have extended U.S. 160 west along 590th Avenue for two miles, transforming the current two-lane county road into a four-lane highway. The estimated cost for this phase was $15 million. The entire U.S. 69 Crawford County Corridor project was projected to cost over $400 million (in 2023 dollars), with no additional funding identified beyond the federal earmark.