and now the action turns to the Senate. Today suellenm posted a concise description of what the bill offers Kansas in the Funding and Economic Development group. The companion legislation in the Senate differs from the House version, so there's still some tweaking to do.

This morning we established a discussion group for the 5-County Regional Transportation Study being conducted by KDOT and several partner organizations. The study has its own home on the web, but we're hosting the discussion piece on the community.

KTOCers herrick and rarthur have been busy in the Rail and Freight group. Among the materials posted today is a story about Kansas City's continuing strength as a distribution hub. We've also added the Statewide Freight Summit, scheduled fo February 23, to the Kansas Transportation Calendar.

KTOC-er schneweis, whose has a day job as KDOT's Governmental Affairs chief, started blogging yesterday at Across the Street. Kyle will be blogging for us throughout the legislative session. And take a moment to head Down Under, where Kyle's T-LINK Calculator gets a thumbs-up from Core Economics.

I've heard some concerns about downloading information from the community. Not to worry: The "Download" command--here's an example--simply opens the selected document in your browser, and stores nothing on your hard drive. If you find yourself facing a question like this, don't hesitate to post it in the K-TOC discussion group. There are no stupid questions; this is a new experience for all of us.

More soon.

KDOT has launched a two-phase study that involves residents, community leaders and transportation representatives to assess changing transportation
needs in five northeast Kansas counties (Douglas, Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte).

The 5-County Regional Transportation Planning Study has three goals:

1. Assess the multi-modal transportation needs of the region

2. Prioritize needs.

3. Develop strategies to address those needs.

The Study includes several public meetings intended to solicit opinions and information from citizens. To learn the date and location of the next meeting, see the Get Involved page at the Study website.