City Manager Robert Layton is scheduled to attend the regularly scheduled 10 a.m. police briefing today make comments related to the weekend death of Public Works & Utilities Director Chris Carrier.
The Wichita Police Department’s daily briefing is held in the fifth floor conference room at City Hall, 455 N. Main.
The cause of Carrier’s death is unknown at this time but he was on his motorcycle when it crashed about 2:40 p.m. in the Riverside area.
Carrier, 62, began working for the City in 1997 as the stormwater utility engineer and was appointed the Director of Public Works in January 2005. He oversaw major projects that reduced flooding across the city, facilitated suburban growth and improved traffic in a city recognized for some of the nation’s best commute times.
Those projects included the award-wining Central Rail Corridor, improvements to the Keeper of the Plains, prevention and recovery related to the 1998 Cowskin Creek Halloween flood and continued expansion of Kellogg Expressway.
The $105 million Central Rail project raised two miles of track above the roadway in the city’s core area, providing five new bridges that carry trains over five arterial streets. The improvements allowed traffic to pass freely below the tracks, improved motorists and pedestrian safety and reduced vehicle emissions.
