A section of US-56 has been approved for passing lanes, but whether Marion County will be included in the project is not known.

A $20 million project to add passing lanes east of McPherson was added Thursday to the state’s Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program.

The addition means preliminary engineering will begin after the project is put out to bid, regional Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Ashley Perez said.

How many miles east of McPherson will be included is not yet known, Perez said.

The first goal was to add passing lanes between McPherson and Galva. After that, the project might be extended as far as the intersection with US-77.