68-20,116. Feasibility study authorized; toll road or turnpike in southerly direction from Ottawa to Kansas-Oklahoma border between U.S. highway 59 and U.S. highway 75. The state highway commission is hereby authorized and directed to study the feasibility of constructing a toll road or turnpike project commencing in the general vicinity of the intersection of U.S. highway 59 and the southern city limits of Ottawa in Franklin county; thence in a southerly direction, within a corridor including and generally delineated by said U.S. highway 59 to a point on the Kansas-Oklahoma border between the intersection of U.S. highway 59 and the Kansas-Oklahoma border and the intersection of U.S. highway 75 and the Kansas-Oklahoma border.

The study of the feasibility of such project shall include, but not be limited to:

(a) An estimate of the total cost of such project, including those items defined as costs by K.S.A. 68-2093;

(b) A determination of the extent to which the project can be financed by the investment of private funds in revenue bonds issued for the construction of such project;

(c) A projection of the potential traffic volume on such project and the amount of tolls and other revenues to be derived through operation of the project;

(d) An estimate of the extent to which public funds would be required to finance or guarantee the financing of such project and the amount of public funds available for such purpose;

(e) The interest rate at which any revenue bonds authorized could be issued; and

(f) Such other data deemed necessary by the commission for a determination of the project's feasibility.

For the purpose of conducting such study, the commission is hereby authorized to employ such consulting engineers, traffic engineers, legal and financial experts and such other employees and agents it deems necessary, and the commission is hereby authorized to spend not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) from the highway general fund to finance the cost of such study. Such expenditures may be made during the period from the effective date of this act until December 31, 1974, and such expenditures shall not be subject to any expenditure limitation established by law on the highway general fund: Provided, That the expenditure limitation provided herein may be increased by the state finance council upon application therefor by the state highway commission.

The feasibility study required herein shall be completed by December 31, 1974, and the commission shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations thereon to the governor and the 1975 session of the legislature.

History: L. 1974, ch. 274, § 3; March 21.