photo by: contributed

One of five wooden bus shelters built by Peaslee Tech students is pictured in this City of Lawrence contributed photo.

The city’s bus service, Lawrence Transit, is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the construction and installation of five wooden bus shelters hand-built by students at Peaslee Tech.

The public is invited to attend the event, which will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday and begin with a gathering for coffee and socially distant mingling and will include remarks from city leaders and others involved in the project, according to a city news release.

Peaslee Tech carpentry students built the five benches, which were inspired by wooden bus stops in Ireland, according to Peaslee Tech CEO Kevin W. Kelley. The bus stops have been installed at locations that previously did not have any bus stop amenities. The project was made possible by an AARP grant in partnership with the United Way.

photo by: contributed

Peaslee Tech carpentry students who built five wooden bus shelters for the City of Lawrence are pictured in this contributed photo.

The shelters are among 19 new shelters and benches that were recently installed in Lawrence, many of which were the product of community partnerships, according to a separate city announcement. Others include a painted bench located at Fourth and Maine streets donated by Girl Scouts Troop 5177; a painted bench at 19th and Massachusetts streets donated by the First United Methodist Church; and a railroad-themed bench at Haskell Avenue and 12th Street donated by Struct/Restruct LLC. The city has also been installing new benches and shelters at various locations.

photo by: contributed photo

Various bus shelters and benches that were the result of community partnerships are pictured in these City of Lawrence photos.

The city has 360 bus stops and had previously delayed making improvements to some stops for years because the location of the city’s new bus station was not established and routes would likely change. As the debate about where to locate the station stretched on for several years, residents in some cases built benches themselves or set out chairs for riders to sit on, as the Journal-World reported in 2015 and 2020. The city and the university coordinate their bus routes, and in 2019 the City Commission settled on locating the bus station on KU property on the southeast corner of Bob Billings Parkway and Crestline Drive. Design work on the approximately $9 million bus station is now underway.

The ribbon-cutting for the Peaslee-built shelters will take place from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Bus Stop 316 near the intersection of Stewart Avenue and 21st Street. The event will include remarks from city commissioners, Lawrence Transit, Peaslee Tech and the United Way.