photo by: Courtesy of Stephanie Dickson

Students and parents of Sunset Hill Elementary School participate in a walk or bike to school day.

Two Lawrence bike and pedestrian projects won state grants totaling about $3.5 million, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced Monday.

The two projects in Lawrence that received the competitive grants from the state’s Transportation Alternatives Program — administered by the Kansas Department of Transportation and funded by the Federal Highway Administration — are for improvements for the city’s 2025 Safe Routes to Schools program and multimodal improvements to Massachusetts Street from 14th to 23rd Street. The two projects received just under $1.1 million and $2.4 million, respectively.

The City of Eudora also received just under $800,000 for improvements to its Safe Routes to Schools program as well.

Across the state, a total of $31.5 million was provided, the largest amount given out through the state’s Transportation Alternatives Program, according to Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed.

Jessica Mortinger, a transportation planning manager with the Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the grant is “one of many” the Safe Routes program received over the years to help implement projects that provide more options for parents and students to safely walk or bike to school.

Mortinger said the funding for Safe Routes will be able to build about a mile of sidewalk to fill in “sidewalk gaps” along routes where children could walk to and from school and make those sidewalks ADA compliant as well. Mortinger said the specific sections would be on West Second Street from McDonald Drive to Mount Hope Court, the north portion of West Second Street from Mount Hope Court to Michigan Street, both sides of Kasold Drive from West Sixth Street to Trail Road and the south portion of Lincoln Street from North Second Street to North Third Street.

Mortinger said the funds are crucial for the city.

“This allows us to implement missing pieces in our program and expand the (options) for local funding we use,” Mortinger said.

Mortinger added that streets like Kasold Drive and McDonald Drive have portions with high vehicle traffic, so building sidewalks will enhance safety and give parents and students more options for choosing how to get to school.

“It will be a critical addition to have sidewalks installed and provide opportunities for people to walk and bike,” Mortinger said.

The multimodal improvements along Mass Street from 14th to 23rd Street have been under the city’s consideration since around October 2023, as the Journal-World reported. Ideas floated on potential projects include adding protected bike lanes along that route and implementing a road diet to drop the number of lanes from four to three.

Mortinger said projects along that route bring together multiple city plans, including the ADA Transition Plan, Lawrence’s Bike Plan and Safe Routes, making it centrally important for improving pedestrian and cycling safety.