Barton County and Great Bend have been the beneficiaries of the massive Transportation Works for Kansas, or T-WORKS, program, since it was implemented 2010. And, according to a report released Tuesday, more projects are on the way.
The Kansas Department of Transportation’s quarterly report provides an update on the T-WORKS transportation program initiated by KDOT, along with other information.
The newest report includes a regional breakdown of construction lettings scheduled for this quarter, a summary of winter storm costs, a graphic presentation of KDOT revenue sources and where the money goes, and a status report on the “$8 million promise.” Under the T-WORKS program, every Kansas county is promised a minimum of $8 million in transportation spending.
“It’s been a big deal,” said Rob Winiecke, Great Bend city engineer of T-WORKS. “It’s definitely a positive thing.”
Although there is some local match money involved in the projects, the program pays for to state and federal highways, bridges and related infrastructure, Winiecke said. So, when one of the roads is within the city limits, “there is an impact.” 
In May 2010, the Kansas Legislature passed T-WORKS, an $8 billion, 10-year transportation program. T-WORKS was designed to create jobs, preserve highway infrastructure and provide multi-modal (air travel,  bike, pedestrian, etc.) economic development opportunities across the state.
Thus far, KDOT reports that the promise has been met in 46 of the 105 counties, including Barton County. The total spent in Barton County is $9.6 million out of $24.1 million scheduled.
The 23 completed projects in the county, which include modernization and preservation of existing roads and other work, include: 32 miles of state highways, $3.6 million; local roads, 8 miles, $5.7 million; and other transportation modes, $248,000.
This has involved U.S. 56, U.S. 281, K-4 and K-156.
Planned 11 projects include: 68 miles of state highways, $15.4 million; local roads, 37 miles, $5.6 million; and other transportation modes, $3.1 million.
It was also noted that the population has dropped 2.4 percent since 2000 and the total number of miles driven daily is 752,014.
Statewide, T-WORKS has included the spending of $695.8 million with another $4.3 billion planned.

Where does the money come from and go?
According to the report, of each dollar spent on T-WORKS, 28 cents comes from state sales taxes, 26 cents from motor fuel taxes, 23 cents from federal funds, 12 cents from fees, 6 cents from bond proceeds, 3 cents from other sources such as drivers’ license fees, and 2 cents from local funds.
As for how each dollar is spent, 47 cents goes to construction, 18 cents to local programs, 11 cents to debt service, 9 cents to routine maintenance, and the rest to fund transfers (to the Kansas Highway Patrol, etc.), planning and overhead, and aviation, rail and transit.

Other information in the report
The report also offers insight into other road-related costs.
The winter of 2012-13 wasn’t cheap. The season that stretched into May and forced road closings later than any in recent memory cost the state $18.5 million – nearly $12 million more than the previous year and about $2.5 million higher than the five-year average.
These costs include labor, equipment, materials and other expenses. The winter effort involved the use of 575 trucks, over 4 million gallons of salt brine that were used to treat 879,000 miles of roads.
In KDOT’s South Central Distirct, that includes Barton County and 16 other counties, the total cost was $3,110,595.
Traffic fatalities were also tracked. Statewide in April through June, there were 87 deaths on Kansas roads, with a year-to-date total of 156. In the same time span in 2012, there were 187 deaths.
Of those deaths, one was from Barton County.
As part of the ongoing effort to encourage safe driving, the agency participates in a number of safety campaigns throughout the year. Among those is Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day, which is Oct. 10.
The annual campaign, which is observed in 21 states, was initiated in 2001 here in Kansas. Larry Emig, a now-retired KDOT engineer, conceived the idea to focus on reducing all fatalities. Similar to the pro-motion of the “Great American Smoke Out” that encourages a day without smoking, PBFD promotes be-haviors that could lead to a day when there were no traffic fatalities. In 2006, The Transportation and Development Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers became the overseer of the program.