KDOT closes roadside park despite protests

Tribune photo/Michael Glover The Kansas Department of Transportation has removed a roadside park and rest area from this spot near the junction of U.S. Highway 54 and Kansas Highway 7. More than 400 local residents recently signed a petition in an attempt to get the park re-opened. Two members of the Kansas Legislature also support the re-opening of the park, which had been a part of the community for more than 50 years.

Despite pleas from several area residents and two members of the Kansas Legislature, the Kansas Department of Transportation has decided to completely remove a roadside park about three miles northwest of Fort Scott.

The park, picnic area and travel stop, built in 1953, was located near the area where Kansas Highway 7 intersects with U.S. Highway 54. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius requested that KDOT officials respond to one area citizen's request to keep the park open. A letter written by KDOT Secretary Deb Miller last month to Fort Scott resident Heather Ethridge explained KDOT's decision to close the park.

"Our (KDOT) primary responsibility is to the traveling public," Miller said in the letter. "The park has been there for many years. In that period of time, vehicles and the nature of travel have changed, along with the nature of Fort Scott and surrounding areas. In considering closing the park, we looked at other resources available to travelers within a reasonable distance from the intersection. We have carefully considered the situation and do not plan to re-open the facility."

Although no public meetings were conducted concerning the park, KDOT officials met with the Bourbon County Commission last spring to inform commissioners that the park would be closed down due to the inconvenience and cost of maintaining the park. During that meeting, commissioners were presented the option of taking ownership of the park, but they indicated that the county could not assume responsibility for the park's maintenance.

Ethridge contacted The Fort Scott Tribune on Thursday, saying that KDOT officials had given no clear reason why the park was being closed down, and that a petition containing 430 signatures of local residents opposed to the closing of the park had been submitted in an attempt to get the park re-opened. Many of those signatures were obtained at the recent Old Settlers Day Picnic in Uniontown, and several who said they wanted to sign the petition declined for unexplained reasons, she said.

"A lot of them said 'I want to, but I really can't," Ethridge said.

The park provided several conveniences for travelers in that area to change flat tires, attend to sick children, and to address other situations that can occur on the road, Ethridge said. There are also no shoulders on that highway, so the park provided a convenient place for travelers to pull off the main road and rest as well, she said. There are only two houses between Uniontown and Bronson that are visible from the road for travelers to request assistance, should their vehicle break down on the highway, she said.

Rep. Lynne Oharah, R-Uniontown, and Sen. Jim Barone, D-Frontenac, both requested that the park remain open, as well as 400 to 500 local residents who signed a petition opposing the closing of the park. A number of local business owners also opposed the park's closing, Oharah said. Oharah, a strong supporter of the park as part of the community, said Miller's letter does not address why the park needs to be closed or the needs of the traveling public.

"Although there has been considerable input given to KDOT opposing the closing of the park, it is apparent that this input had no impact on KDOT's decision to close the park," Oharah said in a statement.

In January of this year, KDOT crews removed the picnic area signs, picnic table, dumpster and shelter from the park, and most recently closed off the asphalt entrances to the park so the site could no longer be used as a rest area. After the park was blocked off, the asphalt was then removed.

"People were aware (that the park was being closed down). I think removing the entrances got it going again," KDOT Southeast Kansas District Engineer Mike Stringer said. "We removed those in a matter of days."

The area now shows no signs of the park and rest area that once existed, Stringer said.

KDOT crews have worked the last several years to maintain the park but recognized that the park would eventually have to be closed and began reducing services at the facility in the 1980s, Miller said. KDOT removed the park's water supply several years ago and kept maintenance actions on the park to a minimum but still tried to preserve the park's appearance until it was closed, she said.

"We (KDOT) began closing areas like this in the 1980s," Stringer said.

In the spring of 2005, KDOT crews placed asphalt on the entrance off of K-7. Those crews also skimmed the parking surface with a light coat of asphalt to maintain a uniform appearance. After the KDOT area office in Fort Scott closed in the 1990s, crews transplanted several trees from the office grounds to the roadside park. Other available trees were planted in the area at no cost, Miller said.

Miller's letter also proposed alternative locations that can be used and enjoyed for traveler services and rest areas, including a commercial area along North National in Fort Scott between a convenience store, a restaurant and a motel; a campground north of U.S. Hwy. 54 and old U.S. Hwy. 69; and a convenience store and parking spaces south of the U.S. 54 and Kansas Highway 3 intersection in Uniontown, which is located west of the former park site.

The city of Bronson also provides facilities, and KDOT plans to also build a modern safety rest area north of Fort Scott near the Trading Post that will also serve as a visitor area for the Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Area, Miller said.

Ethridge said these alternative sites are not as convenient for travelers in the area where the roadside park was located, since most of the alternate areas are several miles away from the U.S. Hwy. 54 and K-7 junction.

In April, KDOT representatives told Bourbon County commissioners that trash clean-up at the park site had been a problem and that the park was not necessary for those traveling the highway. An area landowner who owns the property adjacent to the park site had complained of trash blowing from the park onto the landowner's property, and of other suspicious activities going on at the park, Stringer said.

That landowner has an offer to KDOT to purchase the property where the park was located, he said.

"This (closing the park down) began years ago," Stringer said. "This is just a continuation of the process."

During a recent meeting in Topeka with Miller concerning the closing of the park, Oharah said that Miller indicated she was willing to allow the park to go through legislative process to determine whether or not a bill could be introduced to re-open the park.

Following a discussion with Miller late last month, Oharah said Miller did not mean to imply that she would wait for a legislative process and that the property would be disposed of in the very near future.

In a statement, Oharah said he had already informed his constituents of Miller's prior decision to wait for legislative action, and that he felt "awkward" in explaining that he was mistaken.

"This park has been part of the community for over 50 years and is more or less a landmark," Oharah said. "It is used by a local church for Easter Sunrise services, storm spotters, seniors going to and from Fort Scott, truckers checking their loads, and as a meeting place to travel to other destinations and the general traveling public."

Oharah added, "It is a shame to see this park being arbitrarily closed without good reason or listening to the taxpaying citizens of Bourbon County. Our citizens buy fuel and pay a substantial amount of highway tax on these fuels. I think reason would dictate that their input would be valued."