Aaron Parker gave Lawrence city commissioners an enthusiastic pitch ahead of their approval of a design for Massachusetts Street between 14th and 23rd streets that includes bike lanes separated from vehicle traffic.
The proposed design option is “the safest choice. It’s the best for solid waste. It would serve as a pilot project. We have funding to build it,” Parker, senior project engineer for the city, told commissioners. “And it would increase (operations and maintenance) costs, but it would be, again, a shining star for the city and for the region, and potentially the country.”
Community members asked the commission in April to push for the stretch of road, which was already set for a redesign, to include protected bike lanes. City staff members looked at street designs with protected bike lanes in several cities to help evaluate options.
The design includes one lane of vehicle traffic in each direction, a center lane for turns, and 5-foot-wide bike lanes separated from the street by a 3-foot-wide median. Residents along the stretch could put their trash carts in the median zone, and solid waste workers could complete trash pickup from the lanes of traffic.
Outside the bike lanes are 2-foot curbs and gutters, approximately 17 feet of greenspace, and 6-foot-wide sidewalks.
The project also includes improvements to water utilities and stormwater.
The city might also need to purchase another skidsteer to plow and sweep the protected bicycle lanes. That’s estimated at $100,000 with the necessary attachments, according to the meeting agenda. The plan could also increase the costs to plow and sweep the street from about $4,000 annually to $13,000.
Parker said the city would look closely at the area of Liberty Memorial Central Middle School, near 14th and Massachusetts streets, to ensure the street design “makes sense and accommodates everybody.” He said he’d met with a STEM class there, and some students had voiced concerns about more dangerous areas near the school.
Mayor Mike Dever said he’d heard some concerns about taking the street from four lanes to three.
Spencer Osborn, a consultant with Trekk Design Group, said the group working on the project had done a traffic study in coordination with the city, and they anticipated about .6% growth annually over the next 20 years. He said he believes there may be some delays during peak times. Parker said there may be an opportunity to install optimized traffic signals to help with efficiency.
Street parking along Mass will remain, Parker told commissioners. He also said the city is committed to working with homeowners in the area as the project moves forward.
Lawrence city commissioners approved an approximately $495,000 contract with Trekk Design Group for the final design of the street and approved the design staff recommended.
The cost of construction is estimated at $5.6 million. Much of that cost — about $3.38 million — will be covered by grants, and the city is still waiting to hear if it will receive a third grant. No timeline for construction has been provided yet.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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