Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Works Department

TO:	David P. Cronin, P.E., City Engineer
FROM:	Nicholas Voss, P.E., Project Engineer
CC:	Charles F. Soules, P.E., Director of Public Works
DATE:	May 25, 2016
RE:	2016 Pedestrian and Bicycle Projects

Project Background

In 2016, the City budgeted $200,000 for bike/ped improvements and staff is recommending reallocating another $200,000 of our annual allotment of approx. $1M in federal funds passed through KDOT to fund dedicated bike/ped projects for a total of $400,000.  In addition, staff is working on plans to use the $204,257 from 2015 and 2016 from Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) for sidewalk gap projects in eligible low/moderate income areas.  The city was awarded $189,156 in safe routes to school funding through the KDOT Transportation Alternatives program and is receiving a $100,000 grant from the Sunflower Foundation to fund construction of part of the Lawrence Loop.  The standalone pedestrian and bicycle investment to be made in 2016 in Lawrence including matching the grants totals $893,413 and will be used to complete a safe routes to school project, sections of the Lawrence Loop, a CDBG sidewalk gap project, and additional connections to the bicycle and pedestrian network.

Safe Routes to School

In April 2015, the City of Lawrence was awarded Transportation Alternatives (TA) funding from KDOT.  The project will add sidewalks along designated safe routes for two schools on arterial roadways with sidewalk on one side and residential roadways with no sidewalk on either side.  It will also add Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons at existing school crossings without a crossing guard present (see attached map).  The beacons will have LED lights added to existing signs and will be push activated.  The SRTS funding is an 80/20 (KDOT/City) cost share with KDOT contributing $189,156 with a city match of $47,289 for a total estimated project cost of $236,445. Plans will be produced in-house by city staff in 2016 with construction likely in 2017.  The city cost share of $47,289 will be funded from the $200,000 in the 2016 budget for bike/ped projects.  Attached is the KDOT Programming Request for the city commitment of its share of funds.

Lawrence Loop Segment at Rock Chalk Park

The City of Lawrence applied for a Sunflower Foundation grant to provide a 10-foot wide concrete trail connection through Rock Chalk Park and connect the South Lawrence Trafficway Trail to the Baldwin Creek Trail. This trail segment would take advantage of existing creek crossings by following one of the existing asphalt milling trails in the park (see attached map). The shared-use path will be part of the planned 22.4 mile Lawrence Loop around the city. The project is estimated to cost $275,000 and would be funded with $175,000 from the City of Lawrence and $100,000 from the Sunflower Foundation.

CDBG Sidewalk

The city has been making continuous efforts to complete existing sidewalk gaps to improve the pedestrian network. CDBG funds have been instrumental in our effort to improve the walk‐ability in the low to moderate income areas in Lawrence. Sidewalk segments have been selected with an emphasis on placing sidewalk on both sides of arterials and collectors, on one side of residential streets, along safe routes to school, and connecting residents to points of interest throughout the city (see attached map).  This project will use $86,632 in 2015 CDBG funding, $117,625 in 2016 CDBG funding, and $35,742 of budget bike/ped funds for estimated project cost of $240,000. Attached is the list of gap sidewalks to be completed; staff is working on plans to be constructed this fall.

Lawrence Loop - 29th Street

Staff is recommending using the remaining budget funds of approximately $140,000 to complete the gap segment of the Lawrence Loop on 29th Street between Haskell Avenue and the Haskell Rail Trail to provide connectivity to the South Lawrence Trafficway Trail to be opened this fall (see attached map).  Staff would design the project in-house with construction this fall.

Summary

Staff recommends designing and funding the projects outlined to utilize the $893,413 in available funds.  These projects were priorities of the pedestrian-bicycle task force and the approximate split of funds is $476k in pedestrian projects and $415k in bicycle projects. 

	City Funds	Grant Funds	Total
Safe Routes to School	$47,289	$189,156	$236,445
CDBG Sidewalk Gap	$35,742	$204,257	$240,000
Lawrence Loop Projects	$315,000	$100,000	$415,000
Total	$398,031	$493,413	$891,444

Action

Direct staff to proceed with designing and constructing 2016 pedestrian and bicycle projects for Safe Routes to School, CDBG Sidewalk Gap and the Lawrence Loop.