City staff members and a steering committee on Wednesday will hold an open house to discuss plans to fill in a section of the Lawrence Loop and potentially transform the downtown riverfront area.
The project is to fill in the gap in the loop — the multiuse path that nearly circles the city, with some gaps remaining — from Seventh Street to Constant Park, which is just west of the bridges between Lawrence and North Lawrence.
“The section of the Loop from 7th Street to Constant Park is one of the remaining incomplete sections, located adjacent to, yet disconnected from, downtown Lawrence, and is an area rich with history,” the city’s project website states. “It is also one of the more complicated sections, with potential railroad crossings, private property, and busy road crossings.”
According to a map on the city’s website, the loop currently ends around Eighth and Delaware streets in East Lawrence, and picks up again on the northern side of Constant Park.
The project could include several additions, such as a downtown skywalk and pedestrian bridges over the river with viewing decks.
Here’s a zoomable PDF of the map image above (click here to open it in a new tab):
Pages-from-SC-No-1_Presentation-23The city intends to seek a $25 million grant for the project, and the community meeting will be part of engagement needed to apply for the grant.
The federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant “helps communities around the country carry out projects with significant local or regional impact,” according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. For 2024 grants, $1.5 billion is available; $25 million is the maximum that any one project can seek.
Steering committee members said during their first meeting that components of the project could incorporate public art, highlight the area’s history, celebrate biodiversity, promote healthy lifestyles, enhance access to the water and help people build connections with the natural area of the Kaw River.
The community meeting is set for 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Carnegie Building, 200 W. Ninth St. It’s an open house-style meeting, so people can come and go when it fits their schedules.
Steering committee members met Nov. 9 to start the discussion and next steps. View the staff presentation for that meeting at this link, and a video of the meeting at this link.
The steering committee will meet again before a grant draft is available for review. Then there will be additional steering committee and public engagement meetings before the draft grant goes to the city’s Multimodal Transportation Commission and Lawrence City Commission.
The group expects to have a final draft of the grant application in February or March, according to a preliminary timeline in meeting materials.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
