South Lawrence Trafficway proponents are busy with preparations for the October meeting of the Haskell board of regents.
Government officials pushing for a completed South Lawrence Trafficway are busy preparing for their October presentation at Haskell Indian Nations University.
The meeting may be their last chance to gain Haskell regents' support for a trafficway along 31st Street, their preferred route for the partially completed bypass.
"It's very important," said John Pasley, a former Douglas County employee who works for HNTB, an engineering firm hired to help with the project. "That's why we want to be sure we have all these studies done and updated and together prior to that meeting."
In preparation, the Kansas Department of Transportation is financing further studies of a possible trafficway south of the Wakarusa River and of the cultural and historic value of the Baker Wetlands.
The Federal Highway Administration is helping negotiate with a Denver engineering firm to review the traffic, environmental and other data on behalf of Haskell.
KDOT also is updating its traffic projections for the proposed trafficway routes.
Pasley said the new studies likely would not point away from 31st Street as the alignment providing the most traffic relief from 23rd Street while doing the least environmental damage.
The state has offered a $5 million compensation package including $3.3 million in cash for Haskell's support of that alignment.
David Geiger, the Federal Highway Administration's Kansas administrator, said the regents presentation will give government officials a chance to supplement that offer with facts about the project.
"We want them to be able to make an informed decision is all we want," Geiger said.
Officials did a trial run of their presentation earlier this month before regent President Mamie Rupnicki and interim university president Karen Swisher.
Questions were raised at that meeting that officials will try to answer by October, Pasley said.
Haskell representatives wanted more information on the environmental effects of a trafficway south of the Wakarusa, including the number of homes to be relocated, Pasley said.
Haskell officials also have requested help in finding an independent engineering firm to review and interpret the existing trafficway studies, "to make sure what is being provided to them is appropriate," Geiger said.
Another pending hire is a Georgia ethnohistorian who is being asked to summarize the cultural and historic attributes of the Baker Wetlands, which were once part of the Haskell campus.
Geiger said the historian will use existing research done on the site to help address issues raised by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.
The council is the federal government's policy adviser and advocate for historic preservation. The group has said that the historic value of Haskell includes the remnants of the student farm in the Baker Wetlands.
-- Kendrick Blackwood's phone message number is 832-7221. His e-mail address is kblackwood@ljworld.com.
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