16C
Wednesday, August 16, 1995
KUCAMPUS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
South trafficway route still under dispute
Connecting U.S. Highway 10 and Interstate 70 is not as easy as it seems when the intended route may go through a treasured area of Kansas wetlands.
Source: Kansan staff reports
By Billie David Special to the Kansan
A crawfish frog looks out from the poster near the door of the cluttered biology classroom in Haskell's Sequoyah Hall.
The plants grow in the Haskell Baker wetlands. The marshy 600 acres beginning on the Haskell campus and extending south to the Wakarusa River composes the last significant wetlands remaining in Douglas County and the only one of its kind in Kansas, Haines said.
The door opens and Charles Haines Jr., a Haskell Indian Nations University biology professor, enters. His face and torso are hidden behind a large bundle of grasses and wildflowers that he carries. Haines must fish among the stems to find his glasses.
But the area has been the focus of controversy between those who want to build a trafficway through it and citizens like Haines, who worry about the effect the trafficway would have on the swampy open spaces.
Building the trafficway would not destroy the wetlands and the plants and wildlife in it, said Roger Boyd, professor of biology at Baker University. But the construction would have consequences.
"What the impact will be is shrinking
the wetlands and making it
"People need to consider what is important."
smaller, and some species won't be able to tolerate that," he said.
Charles Hainee Jr.
Haskell biology professor
Boyd said some animals were sensitive to the pollution the trafficway's presence would create such as sand, oil and snow-melting
chemicals. Increased truck traffic also would increase the chances of an accident, which could result in a toxic spill.
The list of animals that could be
affected by the trafficway is long, said Joseph Collins, a herpetologist at the KU Natural History Museum and author of 18 wildlife books. An array of frogs, including the endangered crawfish frog, and two kinds of salamanders are some of those species.
Many mammals also live in the wetlands. There are five or six very large beaver dams, and a badger tried to make its home in the wetlands but was chased away by the beaver, Haines said. Red fox, weasels, mink, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, mice and muskrats call the wetlands home as well.
Boyd said that 220 species of birds had been identified in the wetlands. He contrasted that with 190 species of birds identified in the Clinton
Lake area.
The trafficway, which proponents say would ease congestion on 23rd Street, would connect U.S. Highway 10 and Interstate 70. The favored route of trafficway supporters is aligned with 31st Street, which borders the southern edge of the Haskell campus as well as the wetlands. The other alternative is to build the trafficway in alignment with 38th Street, but this route would affect the wetlands as well.
Boyd and Haines said that the best solution would be to build the trafficway south of the Wakarusa River and avoid the wetlands entirely. Boyd added that the Wakarusa route would be only 400 yards south of 38th Street route.
"People need to consider what is important. Is it only what I want for
$ \textcircled{1} $ Wetlands consist of lowlands near rivers. $ \textcircled{2} $ The rivers sometimes flood, going over their natural levees and covering the land. $ \textcircled{3} $ When the waters fall, some remain in the lowlands, creating wetlands.
How wetlands form
"...We're trying very hard to improve the transportation system while at the same time do minimal damage."
myself, or is there a bigger world out there?" Haines asked. "If I give my child or my grandchild a gift of the earth, if I give them something polluted and toxic and ravaged, that's no gift."
Pasley said that building the trafficway south of the river would cost too much because the bridges would be expensive. Also, the traf-
Other Lawrence residents think the road is a good idea, including John Pasley, the South Lawrence Trafficway project manager at the Department of Public Works.
John Pasley
Pasley said that trafficway planners intended to lessen the environmental impact. They would build high fences along the roads to prevent animals from being hit by vehicles and would build a closed drainage system with ditches and pipes to collect pollutants and protect wildlife from toxic spills.
"I'm handing down to my children better transportation." Pasley said. "I don't believe in just tearing up the environment, but we're trying very hard to improve the transportation system while at the same time do minimal damage."
South Lawrence Trafficway project manager
ficway would be too far south to relieve traffic on 23rd Street.
The fight is not finished, though.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Kansas Department of Transportation still are considering the possibility of building the trafficway south of the river.
The trafeycaw project may run out of money.
A Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, which will examine the trafficway's effect, is being prepared. The writers of the original impact statement did not seek Haskell's input.
President Clinton signed an executive order in 1994 to ensure that minority groups would not face extra hardships from federally funded transportation projects.
But the trafficway's biggest obstacle may be concerned citizens. Those worried about the trafficway's environmental impact are making themselves heard.
If all else fails, trafficway opponents will fight by standing in front of the bulldozers, Haines said.
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