It is centrally composed on the reactivation of abandoned freight rail lines through the city. From west to east, they are the rail right-of-way just south of Kellogg Ave. from Goddard to approximately West Street, the right-of-way north of Douglas through Delano and into the west side of the downtown area, and finally the right-of-way north or Central to Wesley before curving up to follow 17th Street eastward to Andover. Utilizing these three corridors with short connections between them would create a useful system which connects several popular destinations in the Wichita area.
The connections are made up of two types: Shared active rail right-of-way and Street-running segments. The shared active railway connection begins along Southwest Blvd. near Newman University and runs northeast to the western end of the central abandoned line. The street running segments run from West Street to the active railway and from the central abandonded line to the eastern abandoned line in downtown.
The following graphic depicts the line's path and type of surface. The blue represents exclusive right-of-way made up of abandoned rail lines. The red represents shared right-of-way with active rail operations, and the green represents automobile shared street bound rights-of-way.
Please, click on the picture for a larger, clearer image.
The full extent of this right-of-way is not immediately necessary. As a matter of fact, very little of the current road system in Wichita is labored with consistent congestion. However, that is not projected to stay true in the coming decades. Planning for these kinds of systems also takes decades to get from the idea's inception to its completion. A shift in policy to plan for the construction of such a system would greatly ease its creation once it is warranted. The city should set thresholds in transit use and highway congestion that would trigger money spent on alternatives analysis and start saving money for right-of-way preservation and construction. The system could then be implemented in sections as necessary, allowing the need and funding for the system to develop concurrently. Planning the route now would allow for preparatory construction that is easily tacked on to other projects. For example, the I-235/Kellogg interchange lies in the current rail right-of-way. Constructing a path through the interchange for a double-tracked railway would not require much more than lengthening a few bridges at first. Yet, ignoring this possibility would make it significantly more difficult and expensive to construct the system after that interchange has been redesigned without accounting for the railway.
In short, a commitment must be made now to see the project through to the end. While such a feat is difficult in current politics, it will allow the city the develop the future of our city instead of reacting to it. Each card must be placed with care to create a card tower, but it is much easier to build the tower one card at a time, rather than trying to place several cards in place at once.
