General News in the 316

[RoyalShock]

KAKE - Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe in Wichita to promote work ethic curriculum, trade school careers

Apparently he also has his own whiskey label. I may have some details wrong, but he was scheduled to appear at Total Wine between 7-8pm Tuesday. There was such a huge turnout (my son and his wife were there), it lasted until 11.

[SubGod22]

Apparently he also has his own whiskey label. I may have some details wrong, but he was scheduled to appear at Total Wine between 7-8pm Tuesday. There was such a huge turnout (my son and his wife were there), it lasted until 11.

I believe it is his grandfathers whiskey label. I haven't looked into it but may have to find it and try it.

[SubGod22]

This is poorly written and screws up roads/locations, but the overall info is there.

KFDI - Final recommendations presented for K-254

The Kansas Department of Transportation has presented its final recommendations for improvements along K-254 in Sedgwick and Butler Counties.

The recommendations include short-term and long-term strategies to plan for future development and traffic movement along the highway. The short term plan is to manage K-254 as an expressway with the current intersections. That will include lighting at the intersections, extensions of existing turn lanes, new turn lanes and new acceleration lanes.

The long-term plan is to convert K-254 into a freeway. Project Manager David Seitz says the concept is to remove the intersections that exist today and replace them with interchanges to enhance the safety of accessing local roads. Interchanges will be constructed at Greenwich Road, Butler Road, and Main Street in El Dorado. An overpass is recommended at 127th Street East and County Line Road. The long-term plan also includes full closure of the intersections at 143rd Street East and Meadowlark Road. A frontage road will be constructed from Greenwich Road to Adams Road to provide local access. There will also be interchanges at Adams Road, River Valley Road and Ohio Street. Overpasses will be constructed at Tawakoni Road and Hunter Road, with closure recommended for the connections at Indianola Road, Arapaho Road and Shumway Road.

The improvements will be done in two phases at an estimated cost of around $50 million.

The K-254 Corridor Management Plan includes 22 miles of K-254, which is four lanes wide and extends from Wichita on the west to El Dorado on the east (and within 1 mile of the highway). It is a strategic effort to anticipate future land development along the corridor and provide access that serves the communities while keeping traffic moving efficiently and safely. The highway has high volumes of traffic, with the heaviest activity near Wichita and near El Dorado, and there have been several fatal crashes along the highway in recent years.

Short term addition of longer/new turn and acceleration lanes is a positive. It'd be more of a positive if more people actually used the acceleration lanes.

Long term, the Main street they say is in El Dorado is Benton. Main street in El Dorado is on the east side of the city and not pertinent to the discussion as it's inside the city. Main in Benton is basically the only access point to K-254 within the city limits. It will be when they close Meadowlark, which is the next road to the east and on the eastern edge of Benton. Meadowlark already has a frontage road (it's Old K-254) that connects in with Main in Benton.

There will not be a frontage road that connects Greenwich with Adams road as they're nine or ten miles apart. The frontage road to Adams may be for Tawakoni as it's the closest road to it that intersects with the highway.

The plan to close off Indianola makes sense, but it will have to be connected in with the old highway or over to Tawakoni to connect into the highway at either Adams or Main in Benton. The old highway actually stops not too far from Indianola so it would actually be really easy for them to do that. Though I suppose they could make people go north the 15th and over to an access point or make them go south to 30th to do the same.

I'm actually surprised the estimate for the entire project is only $50M.

I'm assuming there's no mention of Rock because they're waiting to see what happens with Integra so they can plan accordingly with the needs that become more apparent once that's all figured out.

There is a lot of potential growth, both residential and commercial, that is going to develop in this corridor and this needs to be some kind of priority. This could also help the growth, but more importantly, it could save a lot of money and lives from accidents once it's completed. I honestly feel more comfortable on the bike driving down Kellogg than I do K-254 before or after work.

[SubGod22]

KFDI - Groundbreaking to be held for new Wichita transit facility

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held Friday morning for the planned new multimodal facility in Wichita’s Delano neighborhood.

The Hub will be constructed at Sycamore and Texas. It will accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, and scooter riders, and they will be able to access the site by utilizing adjacent bicycle facilities and sidewalks.

Wichita residents and visitors can walk, bike, scooter, drive or take a bus to this facility and use Uber/Lyft drop-off areas. The facility will provide access to Riverfront Stadium and will allow visitors to avoid parking on pedestrian areas in the surrounding neighborhood.

The center will sit on a 1.5-acre square block bordered on all four sides by Oak, Texas, Sycamore and Burton streets and will serve as the new terminal and transit hub for city buses and shuttles, and, once it opens will replace the current terminal that operates in downtown Wichita at Topeka and William.

Buses and shuttles will enter the new plaza from the south off of Burton and exit off Texas. A ramp for vehicles to access the upper parking floors will run along the west side of the building, with the entrance off Burton.

I don't personally care about this, but Wichita needs better transit options and maybe this is a step in that direction. More importantly, once this is up and running they will vacate the old one which is property that will be used for the Bio-Med Campus.

[SubGod22]

[SubGod22]

MSN - Eisenhower National Airport continues to set records

Eisenhower National Airport continues to set records for passenger travel.

In August,159,434 passengers flew in and out of the airport. That number beats the previous record for August 2019 of 150,209, a 3% increase.

Statistics for September are still pending. If the trend continues, airport travel could exceed 2019’s record of 1,749,906. From January through August of this year, 1,203,452 have flown in and out of Eisenhower National Airport.

It's nice to see Ike continuing to find success and continue to get better. New routes definitely help.

[WuDrWu]

Always a hit and he seems to genuinely love Wichita

KSN - Food Network star coming to Wichita

I've enjoyed Alton Brown for years. Huge fan. I have most if not all of his books. I can think of at least 5 of his recipes that are weird but amazing and always impress when I roll them out for family or friends. Many of his techniques are staples for me. I mostly enjoy his brand of humor too. I realize I sound like an angry old guy, but I went to buy tickets. $100-200, preferred tickets early, no problem.

$75 convenience fee? I will re-read the books.

It's not the money, but the principle.

[SubGod22]

$75 convenience fee?

For real? That's just nowhere close to even being a little excessive. I love Alton, but that's going to push a lot of people away.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - PHOTOS: Construction progress of the Wichita Biomedical Campus site

Site work has been well underway for several weeks at the site of the Wichita Biomedical Campus at the southeast corner of Broadway and William.

Now that there's visual signs of the highly anticipated, $300-million project becoming a reality, we want to keep readers up to date on how the work is progressing, particularly for those who may not live or work downtown.

Construction on Phase 1 — an eight-story, 350,000 square-foot building that will rise up from what was previously a parking lot — ramped up over the summer and is expected to wrap by the close of 2026, with students arriving in the spring 2027 semester.

It appears crews have leveled the site back out after completing some below-ground work in recent weeks, with several cranes towering over the skyline.

Work is expected to go vertical soon.

I've shared the link before, but here's the live feed of the construction site. Last time I watched they were still hauling in a lot of dirt to fill in where they'd done a lot of underground work. The site very much looks like it's ready to go soon and there are two large cranes on site.

[shocktown]

WBJ - PHOTOS: Construction progress of the Wichita Biomedical Campus site



Work is expected to go vertical soon.

I've shared the link before, but here's the live feed of the construction site. Last time I watched they were still hauling in a lot of dirt to fill in where they'd done a lot of underground work. The site very much looks like it's ready to go soon and there are two large cranes on site.

Great perspective to watch facilities rise!

[Veritas]

Great perspective to watch facilities rise!

Should be better than the Cessna stadium construction cam lately as the only thing of interest now is the wasp nest that appears to have been built in close proximity to the camera.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tRXZ-T3nBj8

[Kung Wu]

Should be better than the Cessna stadium construction cam lately as the only thing of interest now is the wasp nest that appears to have been built in close proximity to the camera.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tRXZ-T3nBj8

LOL I saw something fluttering in front of the camera but assumed it was moths?

Seems like Lambo should petition to turn the deleted stadium into a temporary sand volleyball court.

Might as well give the college kids a fun place to jack around while waiting on construction.

[SubGod22]

This may or may not have an impact on Wichita as a whole, but definitely is a blow to Spirit.

WBJ - Spirit AeroSystems loses big FLRAA contract from Textron's Bell division

Spirit AeroSystems' work on the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft for the U.S. Army — celebrated not long ago as a big win — is no more.

The company confirmed Monday that Textron's Bell division will be taking over fuselage construction on the V-280 Valor for Bell's FLRAA program.

"Spirit and Bell coordinated on an agreement to transition full responsibility for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft fuselage to Bell," Spirit spokesperson Joe Buccino said in a statement.

Buccino added that there will be no Spirit (NYSE: SPR) layoffs or furloughs as a result of the program transition. The Wichita-based company is the city's largest employer with around 12,800 full-time workers.

An industry source told the WBJ that most of Spirit's FLRAA work has already been transferred to Bell, with that process expected to wrap by the end of November.

It's not immediately clear where the fuselage-specific work will relocate. Bell already has a presence in Wichita, having opened a facility in 2020 on the west Wichita campus of Textron Aviation, which is also a part of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT).

Hopefully Bell Wichita takes on this work, but we'll see.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - Owner of long-vacant downtown building has fresh plans for affordable housing

Market Centre, a historic downtown Wichita building that's been vacant for several years, could take a step toward new life this week.

On Tuesday, the Wichita City Council will consider a Michigan-based developer's request for a letter of intent from the city to issue up to $30 million in industrial revenue bonds to help finance a renovation of the 11-story structure at 155 N. Market into 114 affordable housing units.

The development, named Market Centre Apartments, will qualify for a sales tax exemption on construction materials.

Plans call for a mix of studio, one and two-bedroom units, with monthly rent ranging from $659 to $1,041.

This will join nearby Landmark Square office building in bringing more affordable apartments to downtown. Landmark Square will have 74 units.

[SubGod22]

WBJ - Wichita OKs tax-expempt bonds to advance affordable housing project downtown

After previous attempts to renovate stalled out in 2018, the out-of-state owner of an 11-story downtown building secured a key approval Tuesday to move forward with a refreshed project.

The Wichita City Council voted unanimously to approve a letter of intent for up to $30 million in industrial revenue bonds to help finance the renovation of the Market Centre building at 155 N. Market into 114 affordable rental units. The developer has already secured 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits through the Kansas Housing Resources Corp., which requires the use of tax-exempt bond financing.

The development, named Market Centre Apartments, also secured a sales tax exemption on construction materials through the IRB; a property tax abatement was not requested.

Looks like this is finally going to happen.