photo by: Rochelle Valverde

Residents board buses at the transit stop in the 700 block of Vermont Street on Aug. 18, 2022.

Lawrence Transit is seeking public feedback on the downtown boundary as it looks to find a permanent home for a bus station in the area.

Lawrence Transit on Thursday announced a new survey that asks respondents to define their own boundary of the downtown area on an interactive map. As the Journal-World has reported, the process of selecting a suitable site for a downtown station is slated to take place in three phases throughout 2024. The boundary survey is available through April 22.

A news release sharing the survey notes that only sites within the selected downtown boundary, once it’s approved, will be considered for the new station.

“We’re excited to step back into downtown transit improvement discussions with the public,” Transit and Parking Manager Adam Weigel said in the release. “Later in the year, people will have a chance to suggest the exact place they think would work best, but the first step is to decide what area boundary we are looking within. After this boundary is finalized, we won’t be able to consider sites outside of it.”

After that, the steering committee guiding the site selection process will review and vote on the recommended boundary in May and it will then be forwarded to the Lawrence City Commission for consideration in June. The steering committee will also be working to develop site evaluation criteria from April through August and soliciting and evaluating site ideas starting in June. By December, the steering committee and City Commission will choose a final site for design and construction.

More information about the downtown station project is available on Lawrence Transit’s website.