Reviewing the Kansas Department of Transportation’s Response to Great Bend’s Historic Dragstrip Cost Share Project (Limited-Scope) [March 2025]

The Kansas Department of Transportation created the Cost Share Program in 2019 to help fund transportation projects in local communities. In Fall 2019, KDOT awarded $1.19 million in Cost Share Project funds to the City of Great Bend to reconstruct the historic dragstrip and shutdown area (this includes both the track and the portion of the racetrack after the finish line where cars slow down). The dragstrip project was completed in May 2021, but within a couple months, stakeholders raised concerns with the quality of the track such as "high spots" and later reported chipping and flaking of the track's surface. As a result of the dragstrip's quality issues, the track was closed for the 2023 racing season and it has not been reopened since. Under the Cost Share program contract, the city had the responsibility of overseeing the dragstrip project. KDOT was authorized to enforce penalties if the city didn't use the project as it was intended by contract. KDOT was authorized to recapture up to 90% of the Cost Share project funds based on the track closure in 2023, but they did not enforce this penalty. KDOT officials told us this was because they wanted the city to get the dragstrip back into racing condition, and they were satisfied with the city's efforts to do so. KDOT officials told us that moving forward, they would consider enforcing the claw-back penalty if Great Bend didn't get the dragstrip reconstructed in a reasonable time, but KDOT didn't set a specific timeframe for this possibility.