THE UNIVÉRSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18.2013
PAGE 7
Environmental mitigation efforts, led by Baker University and the Kansas Department of Transportation, have already begun in areas surrounding the trafficway's route Impact assessments are required at the federal level when a highway passes through a sensitive ecosystem, and showed measures were needed to lessen the road's potential harm to the surrounding land.
MICHAEL STRICKLAND/KANSAN
DUNCAN MCHENRY/KANSAN
The Baker University Wetlands entrance, located off 31st Street in between Louisiana Street and Haskell Avenue, is the primary public access point to the wetlands. Visitors have shown their opposition to the trafficway on a nearby sign by painting "No SLT."
COMMENTARY
Contrasting perspectives on the South Lawrence Trafficway
KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION A compiled statement by KDOT
The SLT project was ranked as the highest priority project of any T-WORKS project by public officials and transportation stakeholders from across the state. The economic benefits anticipated to be achieved through SLT, based on congestion relief, travel time savings, market access expansion, safety impacts, contingent development, and new population markets, are expected to exceed $3 billion.
Twelve different options were studied (including a "no-build" alternative) for the selected K-10 alignment. The route commonly referred to as the "32nd Street Alignment" was selected based on extensive public involvement, engineering analysis, and a rigorous review of the different alternatives. The 32nd Street Alignment is located about 700 feet south of existing 31st Street through the northern portion of the Baker Wetlands. Existing 31st Street will be realigned to more closely parallel the new freeway, creating a single transportation corridor. Among the alternatives studied was one that would have located the SLT south of the Wakarusa River. This alternative is commonly referred to as the "42nd Street Alignment." It is helpful to compare the environmental impact study findings of that alignment with the selected 32nd Street Alignment to understand the basis for decisions that were made.
NOISE IMPACTS
Based on noise studies conducted during the environmental review process, the 32nd Street Alignment, with noise walls, will result in less noise in the Baker Wetlands than would the 42nd Street Alignment. It was also determined that impacts of vehicle and roadway lighting would be less for the 32nd Street Alignment as compared to the 42nd Street Alignment.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND WETLANDS IMPACTS The 32nd Street Alignment will
By KDOT
HISTORIC PROPERTIES
result in a loss of approximately 57 acres of existing wetlands. However, the mitigation effort will create over 300 acres of wetlands, 16 acres of riparian habitat, and 37 acres of upland prairie restoration. This results in a net gain of over 240 acres of wetlands. The 42nd Street Alignment would have resulted in a loss of only 4.5 acres of existing wetlands, and only 80 acres of wetlands would have been created, resulting in a net benefit of approximately 75.5 acres. Further, the 42nd Street Alignment would have direct impacts to the Wakarusa River as it would have required three bridge crossings of the channel/floodway.
The Haskell Agricultural Farm Property (HAFP) has been the focus of much study over the history of the SLT. It was found that the 32nd Street Alignment actually has net benefits to this property. These net benefits, which would not be obtained from the 42nd Street Alignment, include relocation of 31st Street off of Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) property and conversion of that area to wetlands (approximately 13 acres), if so desired by HINU. Further, relocation of Haskell Avenue and Louisiana Street as part of the wetland mitigation proposal will create a permanent buffer along the east and west sides of the existing Baker Wetlands and will protect the property from noise, light, urban debris, and visual disturbance.
Possible Burial Sites: In an effort to be sensitive to concerns about possible burial sites in the wetlands, a special, independent investigation was conducted. After examining historical records, conducting interviews, and using ground-penetrating radar to search for gravesites, the special report
COST
In 2007, it was estimated that the construction costs to build the 42nd Street Alignment would be significantly higher than the 32nd Street Alignment due to the construction costs of two crossings over the Wakarusa River and one crossing of the Wakarusa floodway. Further, roadway user and highway maintenance costs would be higher with the 42nd Street Alignment due to its longer length.c
In conclusion, the purpose and need for the project is to provide a safe, efficient, environmentally sound and cost-effective transportation facility for users of K-10 and the surrounding state highway system, and, to the extent possible, to alleviate congestion on Lawrence city streets. Extraordinary effort has been invested to balance many competing and important dynamics. This has been accomplished in consultation with and oversight from multiple state and federal agencies, local partners, and the public. It represents a cumulative judgment that this alternative most effectively and responsibly meets the purpose and need of the project.
rated the likelihood of disturbing human burials in the wetlands along the SLT route as "extremely low." To further investigate the possibility of the presence of human remains, shovel studies were conducted in coordination with the Kansas State Historical Society. These studies also failed to produce any evidence supporting claims of the presence of human remains in the 32nd Street corridor. In an effort to increase transparency on the project, Native American observers have been invited to be present for any excavation activities within the existing Baker Wetlands.
COMMUNITY MEMBERS
The struggle to save the Wakarusa Wetlands: Funeral time, or is there still hope for the future?
Many who were involved in the struggle to save the Wakarusa Wetlands have talked of holding a "funeral." We certainly share their deep sense of loss as KDOT prepares to route the South Lawrence Trafficway across the lowest, wettest segment of the wetlands. Two massive noise barriers and eight lanes of traffic would block every wingless creature from moving between the Baker, KU and Haskell portions of the wetlands. KU's 20 acres becomes a relative biological desert. Wetlands still in Haskell's possession, like reservations where Indians were cut off from traditional hunting and fishing areas, would suffer greatly.
We know the wetlands won't "die." Wildlife survives in wetlands beside major airports and city dumps. Amphibians won't vanish. But the SLT will negatively impact the wetlands, Significant air, water, light and noise pollution are inevitable. Trucks will rumble throughout the night when wetland creatures are most active. The road will segment these wetlands drastically.
But the "funeral" idea addresses more than the damage this road does to our relatives, the wondrous wildlife that inhabits this peaceful refuge. At bottom we mourn because we are losing contact with land that is sacred. These wetlands hold so many stories connecting us to our past. They were our refuge, the place where our grandparents and their parents survived some of the darkest times Indians have faced in modern history. These wetlands were crucial to every native child who resisted cultural extermination at Haskell. They
By Michael Caron and Cleta LaBrie
provided an essential outdoor classroom where elders passed on knowledge of healing plants and important rituals for impending rites of passage.
Many proponents of the SLT scoff at assertions that this place is sacred. They fill anonymous online comments with racist rhetoric whenever we manage to get a letter into the paper or an article mentions our belief that this is hallowed ground. It holds remains of students who attended Haskell, though far more of us do not want this discussed at all than there are Indians who have mentioned that fact. The truth is so much more than "graves." It is the place where sweethearts have said goodbye on the way to every war since the school was founded in 1884. It is where many of us remember and commemorate those who did not return home, either from their confinement at Haskell or from battles overseas.
For many SLT opponents a "funeral" seems appropriate. But we recall the words of Navajo poet Luci Tapahonso, who taught at KU. She wrote "there are memories and stories too powerful for things as new as cement and asphalt to destroy." Imagine if KDOT used some of the $191 million set aside to complete this project to build what are called "toad tunnels" and "bear bridges" across this massive project. The former are passages beneath the road that allow small animals of all species to safety. The latter, widely used in Canada
and Europe, is a passageway above the roadway. Landscaped with rocks and natural vegetation screens, it enables larger critters to cross, especially after dark. Day hikers and bicyclists cross safely, too.
The bids on the SLT came in way below the $191 million set aside to complete the trafficway. If just three tunnels were included, our three institutions, KU, Haskell and Baker University, could see who could design the best systems to funnel diverse wildlife toward their tunnel. This would be friendly competition and cooperation, like the legendary Native American "three sisters" practice of planting squash, maize and beans, each contributing and benefitting from the presence of the others. That is how healing begins.
A "bear" bridge could extend the existing rails to trails south to the Wakarusa, eventually linking our two rivers while allowing Haskell students to continue accessing land they consider an integral part of their history and crucial to future development of tradition-based learning methods in the natural sciences and other areas.
Funerals do help heal, but there is a better alternative. Do the "winners" in this long struggle have the good will to do this? It could make all the difference in how future generations remember this chapter in our history.
Mike Caron is a community member with a longstanding interest in the trafficway debate. Cleta *aBrie* is a Haskell student and active participant in the Wetlands Preservation Organization.
READ A STUDENT'S PERSPECTIVE ON THE WETLANDS ON PAGE 4
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