New Expansion to Parking Garage

The City and county are jointly completing an expansion of the existing city owned parking garage at the northwest corner of Chestnut and Loula Avenues. The existing garage will be renovated and a new expansion will be added to the north over the current surface parking lot. In total, the garage will provide approximately 705 parking stalls upon completion. In addition to increasing the parking stalls in the downtown, a major goal of the project is to provide a visually pleasing parking garage, including aesthetic enhancements to the existing garage.

View the parking garage project website

Status: Construction has begun. Anticipated completion is Feb 2008.

Santa Fe Streetscape

As part of the Envision Olathe Downtown Plan, phase one improvements include improving the image of Santa Fe Avenue from Kansas City Road to Kansas Avenue. The improvements are to create a gateway to downtown, lower traffic speeds, improve safety at pedestrian crossings and provide a more pedestrian friendly environment. Enhancements will follow the recommendations from the

Envision Olathe Downtown Plan and include pavers at crosswalks, new medians, landscaped areas and new directional signage.

View the Santa Fe Streetscape project updates

Status: Preliminary designs have been developed by the consulting firm of BCDM. Final construction documents are currently being prepared. Start of the project is anticipated in 2008.

View a full-sized map of the project plan.

BNSF Grade Separation Project

In order to help the flow of traffic into downtown, the east BNSF Railroad tracks will be elevated to eliminate the need to stop for trains at the Ridgeview Road, Santa Fe, Park Street and Loula crossings. Once the trains are moved to the elevated tracks, the streets below will then be reconstructed to make for a smoother driving surface. The project is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2008.

View the Grade Separation Project update page.

Railroad Quiet Zone

This project will design and construct improvements to the 11 at-grade railroad crossings from Woodland Road to Dennis Avenue along the BNSF tracks through downtown Olathe. Once completed, the corridor will have safety improvements adequate to petition the Federal Railway Administration (FRA) to issue a quiet order for these tracks. The 80 trains that pass through downtown Olathe daily will be able to do so without blowing their horns.

Improvements will be made to crossings at Woodland, Harold, Mulberry, Santa Fe, Park, Loula, Elm and Dennis. The crossings at Prairie, Poplar and Cedar will be closed permanently for safety reasons. A pedestrian fence on each side of the tracks will be constructed from Mulberry to south of Elm.

View Quiet Zone project update page.

Status: An engineering firm is currently designing the improvements and the agreement is being drafted between the city and the railroad. Construction is anticipated to begin in spring 2008.

Downtown Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit (DOSE)

Take a walk through Downtown Olathe and see the 2008 Downtown Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit featuring seven (7) works of art.

The exhibit fosters appreciation of the arts and gives artists an opportunity to display their work in public. Exhibits are located on public property in the Original Town area of Olathe and will be on display for one year.

Click here to see the 2009 exhibit photos, information and map. Walking tour brochures are available at the Parks and Recreation Office located at 200 W. Santa Fe.