Making roads safer, more accessible for Panasonic employees, neighbors and visitors

On June 29, Allan Swan and around forty Panasonic Energy colleagues joined Gov. Laura Kelly, Sen. Jerry Moran, Rep. Sharice Davids and De Soto Mayor Rick Walker to break ground on the De Soto Local Road Improvements project, which will widen and upgrade 4.5 miles of roads near the new plant.

“While it’s located here in Johnson County, it will have a ripple effect across the state,” Gov. Kelly said of the Panasonic manufacturing facility. “In fact, it already has.”

The $61 million road construction project will include upgrades along 103rd Street between Evening Star Road and the Lexington Avenue/K-10 interchange, and a one-mile stretch of Astra Parkway south of 103rd Street.

“Other businesses are now more interested in coming here,” U.S. Senator Jerry Moran said. “There are opportunities across Kansas for those businesses.”

The project will make roads safer and more accessible for thousands of Panasonic employees and suppliers, in addition to area residents and visitors. They’ll soon be used to deliver Panasonic’s products, as well.

“For De Soto, this is far more than a road construction project,” De Soto Mayor Rick Walker said. “This represents our path forward for our community’s incredibly bright and promising future.”