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The price tag for a traffic fix at Pilot Travel Center is about $775,000 and one year.

Engineers presented traffic-relief options to the Kearney Board of Aldermen at its meeting July 19, explaining they found the best choice was one the city already had in mind, but they had found a way to do it at a lower cost.

Sabin Yañez and Dallas Joplin of Cook, Flatt & Strobel Engineers of Kansas City told the Board of Aldermen they could design a two-lane road extending Shanks Avenue that runs alongside Pilot to go west behind Econolodge motel and turn south to intersect with Missouri Highway 92 at Country Avenue. That’s a little farther west of the current intersection for traffic at Pilot, Arby’s and the motel, but it’s far enough from Interstate 35 that the Missouri Department of Transportation would allow a traffic signal, according to Yañez.

Shanks Avenue — the current entrance to Pilot Travel Center, Arby’s restaurant and Econolodge — is just 450 feet (less than one-tenth of a mile) from the Interstate 35 intersection on Missouri Highway 92, where there is a traffic signal. The quick, cheap and easy fix the city of Kearney wanted about two years ago was a traffic signal at Shanks Avenue, but that’s too close to an interchange and existing traffic signal for MoDOT to allow, spokespeople have said in the past.

Shanks Avenue, after the new road, would be a right-in, right-out only road. Left turns would have to be made at the traffic signal at Country Avenue.

City officials put in the long-range plan for that site to have a road start behind Pilot and go west before curving to jog south and meet up with Country Avenue at Highway 92. However, the cost of that road was too much.

Yañez and Joplin proposed a basic road with no curb and gutters to keep the price low and allow space for easy expansion in the future. The engineers reviewed several ideas with MoDOT but had to settle on a recommendation that appeased both MoDOT and the city of Kearney.

“They’ve done some creative things we’ve asked them to do,” Mayor Bill Dane said.

In their research, Yañez and Joplin found a similar situation. In fact, they noticed that many Pilot Travel Centers across the country were situated very close to an interstate interchange — oftentimes as close as possible.

They used Minooka, Ill., on Interstate 80 and County Highway 11 as a prime example of the same problem and solution. There, the city built a road to create a separate exit for tractor-trailer trucks with a signal up the road from the interstate.

Yañez said a bonus for Minooka was that industrial buildings and business popped up along the new road shortly after it was built. He said the city also saw more commercial growth across the county highway after traffic congestion was relieved.

“This would have to be viewed by the city as an investment for retail and industry,” City Administrator Jim Eldridge said.

Dane said the city could find a way to pay for the road. Currently, there is about $125,000 in a Community Improvement District fund. The CID collects 1 percent of sales tax (excluding fuel) from merchandise sold at Pilot. That nets about $54,000 a year, Eldridge said. Dane’s proposal was to pay for $500,000 of the project with existing and future CID money by taking out a loan and using the CID to make payments. The other $300,000 to $400,000 necessary for the project would come from the city’s road funds.

Yañez said with the green light from the city, the plans could be drawn and ready for the city to break ground in six to eight months — allowing the city to possibly start building the road next year.

The board approved a contract up to $4,900 for Yañez and Joplin to meet with city staff and property owners around the proposed road to discuss preferred alternatives.

REJECTED ALTERNATIVES

- New southbound off-ramp from Interstate 35 three-quarters of a mile north of the Missouri Highway 92 interchange. Cost: $2.66 million.

- “Jug Handle” U-turn lane one-half mile west of Shanks Road on the south side of Highway 92. Cost: $1.01 million.

- Entrance to Pilot directly from southbound off-ramp of I-35. Cost: $1.12 million.

- Relocate Pilot.

Source: Cook, Flatt & Strobel Engineers

Kearney Editor Kevin M. Smith can be reached at 628-6010 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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