A New Truck Bypass, Santa Fe Changes and Nearly $200 Million in Road Work: What Olathe Council Will Take Up Tuesday

At first glance, Tuesday night’s Olathe City Council agenda looks fairly routine.

But buried in the consent agenda and discussion items are several projects that will shape how people drive through Olathe for years — including a new truck bypass near K-10 and Lone Elm, another step forward on the massive Santa Fe/I-35 reconstruction, and replacement of an aging downtown traffic signal.

The council meets Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. at Olathe City Hall, 100 E. Santa Fe. The full agenda contains 15 items.

One of the most interesting is a proposed new industrial truck route connecting the future K-10/Lone Elm Road interchange with College Boulevard. The goal is to give trucks direct access between K-10 and College while reducing heavy-truck traffic on Lone Elm Road, where truck traffic eventually would be restricted.

The new road would be a two-lane industrial route with turn lanes, sidewalks, streetlights, curb and gutter and storm drainage. KDOT is prepared to provide up to $18.7 million for design, right-of-way, utilities and construction. The council will also consider a separate agreement of up to $1.04 million with HNTB to begin preliminary design. Design could start this fall, with construction currently anticipated in 2028.

The council will also get another look at what is rapidly becoming one of the biggest transportation projects in Olathe history: the reconstruction of Santa Fe Street from Ridgeview Road to Mur-Len Road and the I-35 interchange.

The overall project carries nearly $199.3 million in identified funding, including $40 million in Olathe general obligation bonds and roughly $159 million in state and federal KDOT money. Plans include a rebuilt I-35 interchange, new bridges, wider and reconstructed streets, new signals, medians, sidewalks and streetlights. KDOT also plans auxiliary lanes on I-35 between Santa Fe and 119th Street.

Tuesday night’s discussion won’t simply be about pavement and bridges. Council members are scheduled to see proposed median layouts, landscaping concepts, brick patterns and lighting — some of the details that will determine what the rebuilt Santa Fe corridor actually looks like when the dust finally clears. KDOT’s portion of the work is tentatively expected to begin late this year, while Olathe’s interchange and Santa Fe corridor construction is currently targeted for late 2027.

There is also a significant utility bill attached to that project. The council is being asked to approve an agreement with Evergy for relocation of overhead and underground electrical infrastructure. Olathe’s estimated share is $2.4 million, about one-third of an overall Evergy relocation estimated at more than $7.3 million. Utility work is expected to begin this fall and continue through 2027.

Closer to downtown, the familiar traffic signal at Santa Fe and Buchanan is also due for replacement. The existing signal was installed in 1995 and city staff says its poles, conduit and mast arms have reached the end of their useful life. TLS Group submitted the low bid of $393,599, with construction tentatively beginning in September and finishing this winter.

A couple of smaller development items are also on the agenda. The council will consider a final plat for another phase of New Century Business Park near 151st Street and Old 56 Highway, where another flex-space building is planned, as well as a special-use permit allowing McCoy Custom Carts to relocate its golf- and utility-cart operation to the business park.

Taken individually, most of these items sound like the sort of government business that can disappear inside a 100-page council packet.

Put them together, though, and Tuesday’s meeting offers a pretty good snapshot of what is happening in Olathe right now: new industrial development pushing west and south, major investments in transportation, and preparation for a Santa Fe reconstruction that will dramatically change one of the city’s busiest corridors.