Kan. receives $396K in grants for scenic roads

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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas is receiving $396,000 in federal grants to improve and promote scenic highway routes.

The Kansas Department of Transportation says its scenic byways program is receiving $160,000 to help it start a new marketing program that's under development.

An additional $160,000 will go to the Wetlands and Wildlife National Scenic Byway to help educate travelers about the 76-mile route around the Cheyenne Bottoms wetlands in central Kansas.

Also, $76,000 will allow the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway add a paved parking lot for visitors to an information center just north of Matfield Green, in south-central Kansas. The Flint Hills route is a 47-mile stretch of Kansas 177.

The state has designated nine road stretches as scenic byways.