Sedgwick County Commissioners have passed several resolutions asking the cities of Wichita, Kechi, Park City and Goddard to annex rights-of-way along certain roadways and take over maintenance of the roads.

Commissioner David Dennis said there has been situations where cities have annexed land, but they haven’t annexed adjacent roads, so county taxpayers are having to pay for maintenance of roads that should be handled by the cities.   He said for a one mile section of 167th Street West between Maple and Kellogg, there’s a situation where Wichita, Sedgwick County and Goddard are trying to figure out who’s going to maintain the road and clear it of snow and ice during the winter.    Dennis said Goddard officials have voiced a concern about the cost, but the county recently resurfaced the roadway and it will be good for another 10 to 15 years, and walking paths have been installed.   He said the final solution is for Goddard to annex that entire mile on both sides, and he’s urging Goddard officials to take that step, saying the county will work with them to make sure they don’t have a huge expense when improvements are needed again later.

County engineer Lynn Packer said with different jurisdictions controlling the same section of roadway, there could be a situation with a two different speed limits going in two different directions with different enforcement.    He said hopefully the sides can come together and work out a solution.   Packer said the county has been working with 14 cities over the past year on annexation issues, and there have been good discussions.  He said the county is trying to reduce the load on its road system by 27 miles.   Packer said if there are roads that need maintenance over the next couple of years, the county will still take care of the maintenance, saying “We don’t want this to be a burden for any of the cities.”