Nikki Lansford  - Traffic

Quivira Road from 159th to 179th reopens after two years of work in growing part of Overland Park

Quivira Road

Quivira from 159th to 179th Street is open once more following two years construction to add safety measures. Key improvements include raised medians and shoulders, three roundabouts and five miles of sidewalk. In the future, the stretch of road could become four lanes. Image via city of Overland Park.

After two years of construction, a stretch of Quivira Road from 159th to 179th Street in Overland Park is fully open once again.

The city announced the reopening late last week on its Facebook page.

“Thank you for your patience these past two years, as this street construction project was a massive undertaking,” staff wrote. “The new roadway puts an emphasis on safety.”

The $27 million project began back in August 2019, and was completed in a four-phase process.

Some of the project’s key improvements include:

  • a raised median and shoulders,
  • 2 1/2 miles of concrete pavement,
  • three roundabouts,
  • four bridges
  • and five miles of sidewalk.

Additionally, a multi-use trail, street lighting, storm sewers and landscape restoration were added to Quivira with the construction.

Project history

The planning for this project began back in 2018.

Senior civil engineer for Overland Park Zach Matteo said the city needed the upgrades due to population growth in south Overland Park.

Traffic has increased along this section of Quivira as the area has grown. Over the past decade, Blue Valley Southwest High School has opened at 179th and Quivira, along with a nearby middle school.

Various growing subdivisions have also sprung up around the road.

In the future, this stretch of Quivira may be expanded into a four-lane road by 2040 due to excess traffic congestion, according to the South Overland Park Transportation Plan of 2015,

“We analyze traffic studies to determine how many lanes are needed, which is why we still settled on one lane each way here,” staff said on Facebook. “But with the area continuing to grow, we designed and constructed the project to allow for potential future expansion to four lanes if/when necessary.”

Hi! I'm Nikki, and I cover the city of Overland Park.

I grew up in southern Overland Park and graduated from Olathe East before going on to earn a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. At Mizzou, I worked as a reporter and editor at the Columbia Missourian. Prior to joining the Post, I had also done work for the Northeast News, PolitiFact Missouri and Kaiser Health News.

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