Rep. Ray Cox, R-Bonner Springs, said he’s now optimistic that a palatable compromise can be worked out between the city and the Kansas Department of Transportation.

KDOT wants to remove access to a number of businesses north and south of the Kansas Turnpike’s intersection with Kansas Highway 7. The plan calls for removing the intersections, stoplights and stop signs from a two-mile stretch of K-7 in Bonner Springs and turning the four-lane road into a limited-access freeway with interchanges.

For a number of months, Bonner Springs business owners and city officials have fought the transportation department’s plans.

The city has even hired Trans Systems, a Kansas City firm, to design its own set of highway plans.

Last week, Cox received a letter from Graves.

“He’s wanting Bonner Springs and KDOT and Trans Systems to sit down together and, hopefully, they can work out a compromise,” Cox said. “He stated that KDOT said they had not finalized their plans, which is great.”

Although the governor did not, in Cox’s words, “wave the magic wand,” Graves did signal his interest in the project.

“If the governor were against it, he would say, ‘Cox, back off,'” the legislator said.

The project, which is broken down into two phases, carries an estimated price tag of $80 million. It includes reconstruction of the interchange between Kansas Highway 7 and Interstate 70. Construction on the first phase which is estimated to cost $39 million is expected to begin in late 2002 or early 2003.

For now, Bonner Springs officials are waiting on a final set of plans from Trans Systems. Cox said he believes that a frontage road running parallel to the highway would be a good solution.

“That would help tremendously,” he said.

For Bonner Springs Mayor Ted Stolfus, access to businesses is imperative.

“We have to protect the interests of our local businesspeople,” he said.

Larry Ellington, president of Commercial State Bank, said he’s convinced that the governor will have to step up his involvement in the issue once Trans Systems completes its plans.

“I don’t expect KDOT to accept it on their own,” Ellington said. “I think that’s when the governor will step in.”

KDOT’s plans have been extremely unpopular in Bonner Springs.

Spokesman Ronald Kaufman said the department obtained a number of ideas and suggestions at an open house on July 18.

“The idea of that meeting was to have lots of folks come and learn about the project and offer their comments and ideas, and both of those were accomplished,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman sorted through those suggestions and forwarded them to the department’s engineering staff. He emphasized that the final project design is not set in concrete.

“That, honestly, is a rather common myth,” he said. “We presented a proposal that had some room for some adjustments. We got some comments and ideas from folks on ways to make adjustments and we’ll be considering those. The Canaan business center is a point of deep concern for a lot of folks. We’ve gotten some suggestions on ways to reduce the impact there, and I think we’ll be giving those very serious consideration. We don’t want to destroy that business center, by any means.”