From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Oct. 25, 1973:

The Douglas County Commission was considering a bond issue to finance a new Kaw River Bridge in Lawrence as well as other county bridge projects. Commission Chair Walter Cragan said today that while the exact dollar amount was not known, it might be in the area of $5 or $6 million. The commission had been told this week that there would be no federal funds available for a Lawrence bridge. State funds were also to be unavailable for a few years, according to state highway commission director A. J. Gray, who had sent a letter to Douglas County saying that total urban extension funds of $2.6 million for the state were committed through 1977 and no money from that fund could be expected before 1978. Gray had noted that the Special Bridge Replacement Program had been “seriously reduced by the 1973 U.S. Congress from $250 million in 1973 to $100 million nationally for 1974.” A recent engineering study conducted for the City of Lawrence had determined that it would take $1 million to repair the city’s bridge, but that a $3 million replacement was recommended.