Welcome, new and returning University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University students and families.
Here’s some basic info for those we’re welcoming to town — and for locals who want to avoid the traffic.
Coming into town:
Kansas Highway 10 is almost entirely open. If you’re heading west into Lawrence on K-10, this year you’ll find a delightfully open highway and East 23rd Street, as yearslong construction has wrapped up. (There’s a short stretch of eastbound K-10 that is reduced to one lane in neighboring Johnson County.)
Coming from west of town, the interchange at K-10 and U.S. Highway 40 — aka Sixth Street in city limits — is closed to be completely reconstructed.
Folks should avoid Sixth Street if possible, as multiple construction projects are ongoing.
An important change for those taking Interstate 70: The highway has gone cashless. If you don’t have a KTAG, you — or the person to whom your license plate is registered — will receive a bill in the mail. Learn more at driveks.com.
Townie Tom Harper wrote a little welcome and PSA about some key roads to know for those who are new to town (and a reminder for local folks to pay close attention as folks adjust to the roads):
Coming back to visit sometime later this semester? Latest construction updates within the city are available at lawrenceks.org/construction.
Kansas highway conditions are available via KanDrive, kandrive.org.
Heading to KU:
Residents of Hashinger, Templin, Naismith, Self, first-year Stouffer Place residents and all scholarship halls move in on Thursday, Aug. 22, according to KU’s Move-In 2024 website, housing.ku.edu/move.
Those buildings are around Daisy Hill — on campus near Iowa and 15th streets — as well as in the area of 13th and Louisiana streets south to Lilac Lane. Traffic could be heavy on Bob Billings Parkway/15th Street on both sides of Iowa Street. Scholarship hall residents will be heading in from 14th and Massachusetts streets.
Naismith Drive will be closed to northbound traffic on the north side of 19th and Naismith on Thursday, according to the City of Lawrence. “For KU students moving into Naismith Hall, the detour for this closure will be to turn right on Ousdahl Rd.,” according to the city; other traffic should follow detour signs and use Iowa Street and 15th Street to get around the closure.
Residents of Corbin, Downs, GSP, Lewis, Oswald and Ellsworth Hall move in on Friday. Those buildings are around 10th and Louisiana streets as well as Daisy Hill.
KU has an interactive campus map available at this link (click the “Menu” button to check and uncheck features you’d like to see mapped), and here’s a link to KU’s academic calendars.
Heading to Haskell:
Check-in begins for Haskell Indian Nations University’s new and transfer students from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 to 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22 at Navarre Hall. Students should bring a photo ID.
There will be a parent orientation from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium.
Check-in continues for readmitted students from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 to 3 p.m. Friday.
After checking in, students who are going to live on campus can start moving into their assigned residence halls.
Here’s a map of campus from the orientation booklet (click here to open the PDF in a new window):
Haskell-campus-map-from-2024-orientationThe full Haskell orientation booklet is available at this link, and here’s a link to Haskell’s academic calendars.
How the Times can help:
Families out of town: Please bookmark The Lawrence Times. We have no paywall, and our news coverage and resources are open to everyone, so you can keep tabs on the city while your student is here.
You can also follow us on socials:
Keep an eye on events in town on our community calendar. We’ve also added the major days and breaks for Lawrence Public Schools, KU and Haskell to our long-term events calendar at this link. Classes begin on Monday for both universities.
If you need to connect to local resources, you can find a bunch of those (as well as links to collections of tons more resources!) on our Community Resources page.
Have other questions? Here’s how to contact us. We’re happy to help you navigate life in this town however we can. (Same goes for non-student folks, by the way.) We’d also welcome your suggestions for how to make this guide more helpful.
We wish all incoming students and their families a happy, healthy and successful year. Don’t forget to register to vote! It’s a big election year.
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This post is by the Lawrence Times news team.
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