Federal cuts could impact road projects in Overland Park

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (KCTV) - Federal cuts have impacted several agencies, nonprofits and local governments across the Kansas City Metro, and the city of Overland Park could be the latest. One of the main questions for city officials is which plans can move forward and which ones can’t.

According to Overland Park Communications Director, Meg Ralph, one of the top projects that rely on federal funding is the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A). The grant helps improve sidewalks, street signs, traffic lights and roads.

SS4A identifies the most significant road safety concerns in Overland Park and federal funding helps address those issues.

“Many of our projects are in the tens of millions of dollars to rebuild neighborhood streets and major thoroughfares,” Ralph said. “Some of those we would try to find alternate revenue streams, others we’d just be looking at potentially delaying projects a little longer than we planned or cutting them entirely. That’s not the ideal scenario, we want to build out the streets and improve streets in the way that residents expect us to.”

Ralph said Overland Park residents should not be worried about projects that have already broken ground. She said the city only starts projects if there is enough money to complete them. The concern is more so for projects that haven’t broken ground yet.

“If we’re in your neighborhood this summer, it’s going to get done, we have the funding for it. We would just really be looking down the road, if we don’t get funding there could be projects that need to get done that can’t get done,” Ralph said.

Ralph said if there are federal cuts, the city will try and find other areas in the budget to fund projects. She said it’s too early to tell if there will be any impacts on local Overland Park taxes.

There is already federal funding dedicated to the SS4A plan, parks, trails and bridges.

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