photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

A heavy construction vehicle and piles of dirt in the background of Kanza Southwind Nature Preserve, 2850 Wildflower Dr. in Lawrence. Construction crews are building a temporary road to allow the installing of a new sanitary sewer, but some neighbors felt they heard nothing about the project from the city.

Part of what brought Jan Decker to move to the southwestern edge of Lawrence was the nature preserve just past their backyard, where she and her husband could see deer and the grasses.

But this week, seemingly out of nowhere, she was seeing large trucks drive through the Kanza Southwind Nature Preserve.

“We did not have any idea of what was going on,” Decker told the Journal-World.

The Journal-World reached out to the city asking about the work being done in the area, an 18-acre nature preserve home to a pond and numerous native grasses at 2850 Wildflower Drive just south of Southwest Middle School. Andy Ensz, an engineering program manager, told the Journal-World the crews there were installing a temporary road to a location where a new sanitary sewer would be installed under K-10.

Ensz said that a new sewer is necessary because of the $170 million expansion project of the western portion of K-10 that would upgrade the roadway west of Iowa Street from a two-lane road to a four-lane, separated highway.

According to a city memo from the Feb. 25, 2025, City Commission meeting, the city executed an agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation and Douglas County Rural Water District No. 1 for the relocation of the sanitary sewer and the waterline expansion. Ensz said the work going on at the preserve, which is being done by Emery Sapp & Sons, the construction firm completing the highway expansion, was a part of that project.

Decker said she and her husband spoke with the crews of Emery Sapp & Sons working behind their home and asked about what they were doing. They were given a letter by those crews explaining the work was approved by the City of Lawrence, and that it would go on “for the foreseeable future.”

Decker said she “felt upset” by that description since it was very vague. She wondered if the foreseeable future was a month, many months, a year? Decker was also worried about what would happen to the preserve in the future, since the road “pretty well destroyed” the area.

Ensz said installation of the sanitary sewer is expected to begin in January 2026 and be completed by April 2026. He also said once that sewer is installed, the temporary road will be removed and the reserve will be restored.

Decker said hearing that news made her feel much better, but she also felt that there was a general lack of communication about the project. She told the Journal-World she felt like she was not told “anything” about the upcoming work, and having any idea of what was going to happen in the reserve would have made a difference.

“When information is put out, just tell us what it is,” Decker said as a plea to the city. “Communication is so vital … [not knowing] left us residents hanging in the air.”

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

A heavy truck and construction vehicle driving along a temporary road at Kanza Southwind Nature Preserve, 2850 Wildflower Dr. in Lawrence. Construction crews are building a temporary road to allow the installing of a new sanitary sewer, but some neighbors felt they heard nothing from the city.

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

A heavy construction vehicle and a temporary road at Kanza Southwind Nature Preserve, 2850 Wildflower Dr. in Lawrence. Construction crews are building a temporary road to allow the installing of a new sanitary sewer, but some neighbors felt they heard nothing from the city.