photo by: City of Lawrence

A City of Lawrence map shows a proposed extension of Wakarusa Drive, in yellow at lower left, which would connect the roadway to County Route 458.

While City of Lawrence leaders this past weekshied away from contributing funding to extend Wakarusa Drive south of Lawrence and to build a bridge over the Wakarusa River, Douglas County still seems poised to move forward.

The issue wasn’t on the agenda when the Douglas County Commission met a day after city leaders opted against funding that project, but Douglas County Administrator Sarah Plinsky noted in her weekly memo to the commission Wednesday that county staff planned to host a community town hall about the project in the next 45 to 60 days.

Plinsky’s memo includes a report from the county’s director of public works, Chad Voigt, about the project. The 37-page report calls the proposed extension a “high priority improvement in the county’s road network.”

The report provides a bevy of details about the project, including how it may improve the City of Lawrence and Douglas County’s road network and its potential environmental impacts. Since the report was prepared in July, it still includes a cost-sharing breakdown between the city and county despite the city’s recent decision to back out. The two entities would have paid about $9 million toward the project, which is a partnership with the Kansas Department of Transportation; the city would have paid 40% of that cost, and the county would have paid 60%. The report says the county has already planned for $5.4 million in capital improvement funds for the project based on that split.

According to the report, the proposed bridge over the Wakarusa River would replace three bridges that existed prior to the construction of Clinton Lake and Kansas Highway 10. It calls the proposed extension connecting Wakarusa Drive to County Route 458 “necessary” to respond to existing and future traffic volumes. Immediately after opening, it would apparently carry an estimated 3,650 vehicles per day and become one of the busiest county-maintained routes in Douglas County.

The project would also tie into an expansion of the west leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway, another project that will move ahead regardless since it’s already been funded by KDOT. It would turn the two-lane highway from west of U.S. Highway 59 up to Interstate 70 into a divided freeway, similar to the east leg of the SLT. Specifically, the report notes that the expansion includes an interchange at Wakarusa Drive intended to mitigate traffic accidents involving vehicles entering and leaving the nearby Youth Sports Complex, which is at the intersection where that road meets 27th Street.

Environmental impacts

According to the report, the proposed road will require the acquisition of about 25 acres of land, 70% of which is on private agricultural property and the remaining 30% of which is on federal land managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The report also states that a detailed environmental assessment will be completed during the initial design phase of the project, and environmental permits will be required from several agencies — like the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Kansas Department of Agriculture — prior to construction.

As the Journal-World has previously reported, community members have expressed concerns about how the project might affect the river and its ecosystem. The report acknowledges the river as sensitive to detrimental impacts from construction and notes that the proposed bridge would be designed to span the bed of the river so it avoids affecting aquatic habitat. It would, however, require the removal of trees within a 150-foot roadway corridor crossing the river.

The proposed roadway would also occupy roughly 17 acres of prime soil — land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber and other crops.

photo by: Douglas County

This map shows the conceptual road alignment, right-of-way and anticipated environmental
factors of a proposed project to extend Wakarusa Drive south of Lawrence and build a bridge over the Wakarusa River.

As for what the project won’t impact, the report indicates that there aren’t any native prairie sites along its path, nor any wetlands or active floodplains. There also haven’t been any cultural, historical or archeological resources identified in the project area, but state law says the Kansas State Historical Society must be contacted and that work must stop if any resources are discovered during construction.

Improved level of service

While an environmental impact might be felt in some respect, the report claims the project will simultaneously be a major improvement in the city and county road network. It would reduce vehicle use by an average of about 1.2 miles for all trips — eliminating 1.6 million vehicle miles traveled per year based on the estimated volume of 3,650 vehicles traveling along the roadway per day — and each trip would also average about 2.4 minutes less travel time, about 53,000 vehicle hours per year.

The report also touts that fire and medical response times would improve by three minutes, on top of the roadway providing a more reliable route for emergency services and disaster response and reliable access in the event of flooding. The report also claims the roadway would reduce traffic in congested areas — it would shift traffic entering Lawrence from the southwest from 31st and Iowa streets to Wakarusa Drive and Clinton Parkway — and in recreational areas like the dam road.

photo by: Douglas County

A proposed project to extend Wakarusa Drive south of Lawrence would expand the region of Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical that can be responded to in 10 minutes or less by 14 square miles.

The report also states that the project would improve access to city services and park facilities. Rural residents would have better access to public services and businesses in Lawrence since the roadway would restore a north-south connection for areas impacted by the construction of Clinton Lake, and the roadway would provide additional points of access to the city park and open spaces, on top of functioning as the primary point of access for Eagle Bend Golf Course.

The project would also aim to expand bicycle routes; according to the report, the proposed roadway calls for paved shoulders and a parallel shared-use path to the south end of the city park. It would connect the Lawrence Loop to the rural bicycle route south of Clinton Lake.

The report notes that though the road would likely become a city high-capacity street in the distant future, it isn’t intended to create development potential or expand city services.

There are undeveloped lands to the north and south of the Wakarusa River, and the report says they are owned by one landowner each. In unincorporated areas farther south, the report states that the current zoning code would provide for four additional residences to be constructed along East 1000 Road.

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The report notes that based on current estimates, construction on this project could begin in 2025 if it does move forward. As of Friday, the county hasn’t announced a date for the town hall meeting about the project.

The Multimodal Transportation Commission, meanwhile, recommended against moving forward with the project, a point raised during the Lawrence City Commission’s meeting Tuesday. The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission also discussed the project at length Wednesday, but that was as part of a broader conversation regarding whether projects in the 2023-2027 Capital Improvement Plan conform with the city and county’s goals. While some members of that commission said they thought the Wakarusa Drive extension project wouldn’t pass in terms of meeting the criteria for environmental impact, they didn’t take any action to formally recommend supporting or opposing the project, just that it and the others on the list were “in conformance.”