A discussion about the Sedgwick County budget on Wednesday turned into a broader conversation about the Northwest Expressway project and its current state.
The NW Expressway has been a topic for decades, but has never received final approval from the Kansas Department of Transportation. The project would connect Maize and Goddard, bypassing Wichita.
The county engineer said there's no funding for the expressway in next year’s budget, which is different than past years.
Sedgwick County had been allocating $1 million annually in local sales tax money to match requirements needed to buy and preserve land. That was reduced to $740,000 a couple of years ago. Last year, that $740,000 was moved into three other county projects.
Sedgwick County commissioner Ryan Baty called the $20 million project, "the bridge to nowhere"; he went on to say, "The whole community between Commissioner Wise & I's district are just sitting there with their hands up, saying, 'where are we going with this thing?' And it's just absolutely asinine to think that we've thrown this much money at this, with no plan. Meanwhile, Sedgwick County taxpayers, we're throwing a million dollars a year at this thing to buy right-of-way based on this agreement."
Baty said he’s meeting with one of the candidates for governor next week and will make the Northwest Expressway part of the conversation.
