For months residents have fought against large truck traffic barreling back and forth on rural roads in unincorporated southern parts of the county.

On Thursday, Dec. 15 the Johnson County Commission unanimously voted through two separate actions to ban trucks exceeding 16,000 pounds and or with five axles on 199th Street and certain stretches of county roads that run through southern and western Johnson County: including Edgerton, Gardner and Spring Hill.

There are exceptions to the truck ban that include trucks that originate locally but will still be liable to the Sheriff, agricultural, emergency and traffic maintenance vehicles.

Last month after several meetings, Gardner City Administrator Jim Pruetting, said the city would be banning truck traffic on 199th and begin putting signs up on the stretch of 199th Street between Gardner Road and Clare Road. Pruetting said it was a proactive step to mitigate and reroute truck traffic.

At the Sept. 19 Gardner City Council meeting Pruetting said they had met with Edgerton and the county for engineering- based solutions to the movement of trucks.

“199th Street isn’t built for trucks,” he said. “It is deteriorating and there are safety issues,” he said.

Mark Baldwin, council member, said they promised property owners the city would keep the road a county road and not an arterial road.

This move from the City of Gardner pushed the county commission to address the issue with 199th Street and other rural roads. The last two weeks the issue had been tabled by commissioners.

At the December 1 commission meeting, Ed Eilert, commission chair, said what would be the alternative and cost per mile to keeping trucks off 199th Street.

Brian Pietig, Johnson County public works director, said he estimated conservatively that it would be $5 to $10 million per mile of additional road.

Charlotte O’Hara, commissioner, said it would be a tremendous expense to the county.

“We are not obligated to provide a truck route outside the Interstate,” she said. “And it would be counter to what the residents want.”

The issue began earlier in the year in August when local 199th Street resident Frank Moley began a petition against the trucks running on his street to protect him and his neighbors. His father-in-law’s vehicle’s crash while avoiding a semi-truck was the catalyst.

Moley received hundreds of signatures and addressed the commission at their Thursday, August 18 meeting stating they supported Northpoint and continued to ignore taxpayers. He said 199th between the Intermodal and Highway 169 was being used by the trucks as a short cut to circumvent the scales on I-35 highway.

199th Street, along with many of the roads in southern rural Johnson County, is a narrow two-lane road with no shoulders or drainage ditches, and drivers’ have limited ability to pull over safely without going off the road while being the only vehicle on the road even without a large truck headed in the opposite direction. 199th Street was at the focal point as it runs through several cities and rural areas.

Moley said he wanted to thank the City of Gardner for forcing the county’s hand.

“By today’s board action, it appeared to be with great reluctance that they had to capitulate to the will of the people,” he said. “But with all that said, it is great that the Sheriff has the authority to now stop this traffic on a dangerous set of roads. I thank Commissioner O’Hara for standing up for us with such little voice and not stopping in her desire to make our voices heard.”

Jennifer Williams, rural resident, also shared similar sentiments about the City of Gardner and Commissioner O’Hara being the only ones who had local residents’ backs and safety in mind.

“If it wasn’t for Gardner standing up for public safety and the will of the citizens, we would not be seeing Johnson County vote in favor of this,” she said. “They have made it very clear that they believe the Intermodal is expanding into our community and they want that truck route.”

O’Hara said the move was for the safety of the public and there had been a lot of issues with increased traffic since the creation of the Intermodal Logistics Park in Edgerton.

“I am looking forward to safer roadways in Johnson County,” she said. “Edgerton was the tipping point. Now we are all working together.”

S hirley Allenbrand, commissioner who represents the 6th district, said there were a lot of roads effected by the decision, but they had to think about the safety of the outer roads.

“I appreciate all the work going into it, the patience of the people that live out there,” she said. “Thank you all for the time you put into this and the patience.”

Allenbrand said it had taken awhile to get to this point.

“I have been working on this since the day I was elected, trying to work with groups of people, trying to find a solution,” she said. “It is safety and safety is important.”

Moley said in August that Allenbrand had been holding closed door meetings and had BSNF and Northpoint donors and continued to ignore area residents.

O’Hara said she had been fighting tooth and nail on the issue from the beginning.

“I appreciate Allenbrand’s support on this now, even if it took a while to get to this point,” she said.

Michael Ashcraft, commissioner, said he wanted to thank the residents’ patience as they had been the motivation for the truck traffic ban.

Janee Hanzlick, commissioner, said she knows the wait had been frustrating for residents and she had been impressed by the forward thinking of all parties involved looking for a solution that works for the whole area.

The Iwntermodal warehouses in Edgerton have been a source of contention for many local residents who blame Logistics Park for the increased, dangerous truck traffic.

Dan Meisinger, 199th Street resident for 44 years, said he wasn’t living in Southern Johnson County for the warehouses, but for the high quality of life. He said the Intermodal had changed the quality, but he appreciated the commission taking action on the increased truck safety issues as he had counted 12 semis go by his house in 25 minutes the day before.

Williams said it was the county who had subdivided the illegal narrow corridor from an original 40-acre lot allowing Edgerton the ability to annex and rezone land east of Gardner Road.

“It was an unprecedented and questionable subdivision of land that I think the county planning office would have trouble supporting in a court of law when compared to other legal and more reasonable subdivisions of property they have historically denied,” she said.

Williams said the county also knew what they were doing when they subdivided the narrow corridor and took the industrial zoning vote away from residents and handed it Edgerton, “who self-admittedly have no obligation to represent unincorporated residents nor protect their rights.”

“Johnson County is a partner in crime with Edgerton on the violation of homeowners’ constitutional rights with the inappropriate and incompatible intermodal expansion into our residential community,” she said.

Williams said the commissioners are too busy protecting MARC and outside big business interests, preventing them from protecting, serving and representing their constituents.

Streets banned from large truck traffic: -Lone Elm Road from 175th Street south to Spring Hill city limits and from 191st Street south to Spring Hill city limits.

-Hedge Lane from 175th Street south to 207th Street -Clare Road from 175th Street south to 199th Street from 207th Street south to 215th Street.

-Cedar Niles Road from 183rd Street south to 215th Street.

-Moonlight Road from 183rd Street south to 215th Street -Kill Creek Road from 213th Street southwest to 215th Street -Waverly Road from 199th Street south to Edgerton city limits and from 207th Street south to 213th Street.

-183rd Street from Moonlight Road east to U.S. Highway 169 -191st Street from Gardner Road east to Spring Hill city limits -199th Street from Gardner city limits east to Spring Hill city limits -207th Street from Corliss Road east to Spring Hill city limits -213th Street from Kill Creek Road east to Waverly Road -215th Street from Gardner Road east to Spring Hill city limits -Four Corners Road from 191st Street south to 199th Street -Waverly Road from U.S. Highway 56 south to Edgerton city limits -167th Street from Clare Road east to Hedge Lane

Enforcement Brian Pietig, director of Johnson County public works, said they would begin enforcing the ban January 1st after spending time on an educational campaign for area truck drivers and municipalities. The county will be working with Johnson County Sheriff Calvin Hayden as well, he said.

Hayden said the Sheriff ’s Office will be working together with cities and counties to enforce the new traffic rules, but because many of the roads are gravel or unimproved, they will have to get creative.

“It’s a really more complicated issue than what a lot of people think,” he said.

Hayden said in some areas it is unsafe to pull a truck over, but once you make a few stops the word will get out to other truck drivers. He said they do not wish to do anything “draconian”, and they would be using common sense measures.

Hayden plans on a grace period to inform violators on the new change before handing out tickets. He said other cities and city police forces are on board with the same plan.

Eilert said trucks over 16,000 pounds must identify their weight.

Hayden said it must be identified on their truck doors and it makes it easier to stop them.

“Road closures are going to be a regional issue,” he said.

Hayden said the issue will keep coming up as development continues to grow in Southern Johnson County.

“We have our eye on the issues down there,” he said. “Future development will happen, but we have to be prepared to how it is handled.”

O’Hara said CARNP was clear the county had the ability to ban trucks from the roads.

Hayden said the Kansas Highway Patrol had confirmed that trucks were using 199th Street as a shortcut to bypass the I-35 Highway weight station.

“We are trying to make common sense solutions,” he said.

199th Street runs through several jurisdictions and the plans for the street have changed over the years.

Ed Eilert, board chair, said long term questions will be raised that include possible negative impacts on property values and what types of development can occur in these areas.

“Structure of the streets change,” he said. “Many become four lane thoroughfares. It doesn’t mean in the future they won’t need improvements to roads and required to be enlarged to handle traffic.”

W illiams said Pietig had told more than one resident that “development is coming whether the residents like it or not.”