photo by: Mike Yoder

The Riverfront Plaza building and its adjacent public promenade are pictured near an area where the City of Lawrence plans to build a river access point that includes a terraced plaza, boat ramp and fishing areas.

An upcoming City of Lawrence project aims to improve access to the Kansas River near downtown Lawrence, offering gathering areas, a boat ramp and fishing spots.

The city’s capital improvement plan for this year includes $750,000 toward the project, and the city expects to receive an additional $200,000 in grant money. The project, the Kansas River Amenities Recreation Trail, will construct a recreational trail, terraced plaza and access points along a section of the riverbank that borders downtown Lawrence.

Engineering Program Manager Matt Bond said the concept was to create a terraced stone plaza leading down to the river that includes a boat ramp and fishing areas. He said the terrace would involve large boulders and would include three or four levels leading down toward the water, boat ramp and fishing areas.

“They are going to be little points that jet out into the river, so you can stand there and cast your line out,” Bond said. He said those features would also serve to naturally protect the riverbank.

The City of Lawrence owns several stretches of land along the banks of the Kansas River in Lawrence, including the area bordering downtown where the Riverfront Plaza building is located. That area of the riverbank had grown unstable in recent years, and a concept for stabilizing the bank that also improved access to the river in that area was initially discussed in 2018.

That concept included the terraced stone plaza and access points, as well as another structure built farther out into the water that would create whitewater features for kayaking and other water activities. Bond said the current project works off that concept, but does not include the structure to create the whitewater features.

The concept calls for the terraced stone plaza to be located along the riverbank in the area directly north of the Riverfront Plaza building’s promenade, which is a balcony area overlooking the river that is owned by the city and open to the public. In addition to the access features, plans call for the construction of a 12-foot-wide concrete recreational trail that will go the length of the area. Bond said the path and terrace would go from the parking lot east of the Riverfront building and would end at the west end of the promenade.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A construction access road is shown on the south side of the Kansas River, on the east side of the bridge and below the Riverfront Plaza building, in the area where the City of Lawrence plans to build a river access point that includes a terraced plaza, boat ramp and fishing areas.

The stated goal of the project in the city’s capital improvement plan is to improve access to the Kansas River. In addition to the $750,000 the city has budgeted for the project, Bond said that the city has a letter of commitment from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism for a $200,000 grant to support the project. Officials with the KDWPT previously told the Journal-World that aspects of a project that improve water access for fishing or for paddlers by adding entry and exit points could qualify for grants.

The group Friends of the Kaw has also been supportive of the project, saying that improving access to the river at that location in particular was important because of its proximity to downtown. Dawn Buehler, a riverkeeper with the group, said she was very excited to hear that the city was investing in the project. People regularly fish in that area of the river, and Buehler said the project would provide a safer way to do so, and, hopefully, would also give others an added opportunity to connect with the river.

“I think it’s really important that cities provide these access opportunities for people, because it’s their river,” Buehler said. “They have every right to fish and walk beside it and to run beside it and to be a part of their river, and for a long time we didn’t have that.”

The riverbank project will come on the heels of two projects to repair the Kansas River dam. Since the 1970s, the city has legally been responsible for the maintenance of the dam, which is a key part of the city’s water supply system.

photo by: Mike Yoder

A photograph from the Kansas River bridge looks down on current work on the dam on the south side of the Kansas River.

The city recently completed a project to repair holes in the dam and is currently working on another project to construct a new concrete wall on the downstream face of the southern third of the dam and place a new concrete cap on top of the existing apron. Those projects required the construction of an access road along the river and a temporary dam to divert water away from the area. Bond said those materials would be re-used for the upcoming riverbank project.

As far as timelines go, Bond said the second phase of the dam repairs should be finished in February. He said it’s expected that the city will request bids for the riverbank project at the end of July or early August, and the project should be able to start in September and be complete by December.