Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Works

 

TO:

Dave Corliss, City Manager

FROM:

Shoeb Uddin, City Engineer

CC:

Chuck Soules, Public Works Director

Brit Crum-Cano, Economic Development Coordinator

Date:

November 02, 2011

Re:  

A joint application (KDOT, the City and the County) submitted for 2011 TIGER grant for The Research Gateway – a diamond interchange at K-10 Highway and Bob Billings Parkway, Lawrence, Kansas.

 

     

Introduction

The TIGER application for the interchange project at K-10 and BBP was submitted electronically to the Federal Highway Administration on October 31, 2011. The application was prepared by city staff with economic modeling assistance from KDOT. This was a joint application with KDOT as the lead applicant, the City and the County as the second and third applicant respectively. Staff received letters of support for this project from a variety of civic and community organizations in Lawrence including the US Senators Pat Roberts, Jerry Moran, the House of Representatives Lynn Jenkins, Kevin Yoder and Governor Sam Brownback. The State Senator Marci Francisco and the KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little have also written letters in support of the project.

 

History/Background

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that $527 million will be available to continue the TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) Grant Program for the third round. The first round of TIGER Grant began under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The second round of this grant program came around in 2010.

 

TIGER is a competitive grant program for construction of large scale transportation projects that create jobs and would have a significant impact on the nation, a region or a metropolitan area. According to the US Department of Transportation, projects for the 2011 TIGER grant program will be selected based on their ability to contribute to the long-term economic competitiveness of the nation, improve the condition of existing transportation infrastructure, energy efficiency, transportation safety and livability of communities through increased transportation choices.

 

Project Summary

The proposed interchange at K-10 and Bob Billings Parkway will eliminate the current at-grade intersection by constructing a bridge over K-10, extending Bob Billings Parkway to this bridge and re-aligning the County Road E 1500 (See attached Concept Sketch). When completed, BBP and County Road E 1500 will be connected via the bridge over K-10; as a result, east-west traffic on BBP and E 1500 will move safely without having to negotiate the high speed traffic on K-10. There will be on and off ramps similar to the existing interchange at K-10 and US -40/West 6th Street enabling safe transition and movement of traffic in all four directions. The project would also include decorative lighting, bike lanes and sidewalks connecting with the existing bike lanes and sidewalks on BBP, continuing over the bridge/interchange and to the west past K-10.

 

The areas west of K-10 are prime locations for new residential, commercial and industrial development. In the “West of K-10 Area Plan” approved by both the City and County commissions, this interchange was identified as a critical infrastructure in order to accommodate westward growth in Lawrence/Douglas County. The projected growth and development in the area west of K-10 will add new jobs to the region’s economy in the long term; in the short term, this project will create a good number of high paying construction jobs.

 

This project will tremendously improve traffic flow and safety in this corridor by eliminating the existing at-grade intersection. This project will also reduce congestion at the existing interchange at K-10 and US-40/West 6th Street.  By attracting a lot of the KU traffic, this project will generally help reduce congestion on 6th street and Iowa Street as well.

 

Project Cost / Funding

Total project Cost                                           $21.02 million

City of Lawrence*                                           $100,000.00

Douglas County*                                             $100,000.00

KDOT                                                           $13.57 million

Total (KDOT, City and County) (75%)             $13.77 million

 

TIGER Grant Application (25%)                                    $5.25 million

 

*Already approved by respective commissions.

 

Project Schedule

It is anticipated that the Grant Award will be made public by the end of 2011. If awarded, construction of this project will begin in late 2013 /early 2014 with anticipated completion by the end of 2014.

                  

 

Exhibits

Concept Sketch

TIGER Application