UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Extra costs won't kill trafficway
By Carlos Tejada Kansan staff writer
5A
A Douglas County Commissioner yesterday counselled against giving last rites to the South Lawrence Trafficway after a state official Wednesday said its price tag had increased by about $20 million.
Mark Buhler, county commissioner, said yesterday that reports from the Kansas Department of Transportation of the trafficway's cost climbing from $62 million to more than $80 million were not reliable. He said many of the costs taken into account were estimates.
"Until we get real numbers in the report, we won't progress," Buhler said. "I'll bet that number changes 10 more times before the trafficway is built."
However, Buhler said that delays, design changes and the cost of buying land for the trafficway had cost more
than county officials had expected. But he said the county probably would pay the additional costs with available federal and state grants.
Mike Rees, general counsel for the Kansas Department of Transportation, reported the $20 million increase Wednesday. Rees said buying the right of way — the land the trafficwill be built over — had cost $7 million more than planned.
Buhler said delays made up a significant part of the cost increase. He said costs for right of way, supplies and contracted services rose with inflation. Thus, the longer the trafficway is delayed, the more the increase.
Delays in building the eastern half of the traffickway could add even more to the cost, Buhlier said. This summer, the county decided to build the western half but to delay construction on the eastern half. The western half will run south to Clinton Lake from Interstate Highway 70 west of Lawrence, then east to U.S. Highway 59.
"If we would have been obtaining right of way three years ago, we could have bought right of way for a lot less." Buhr said.
Members of Haskell Indian Nations University had asked the county to reconsider the eastern alignment to protect wetlands south of Haskell.
Buhler said the county would not decide the final route of the eastern half, which would connect the western half with Kansas Highway 10, until the Federal Highway Administration completed a supplemental environmental statement on the trafficway's impact on the wetlands sometime in early 1995.
"My hope is that, if these cost reports are correct, the alignment could be worked out quickly east of 59, so we can pursue the funding we need," Buhler said.
The Associated Press contributed information to this story.
Friday, October 14, 1994
Haskell's wetland worries will be considered
By Carlos Tejada
By Carlos Tejada Kansan staffwriter
A federal official yesterday welcomed a statement by Haskell Indian Nations University officials detailing the impact of the South Lawrence Trafficway on the spiritual quality of the Haskell Wetlands.
Any statement Haskell submits will be considered for inclusion in a future environmental impact study of the trafficway, said David Orr, acting division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration in Topeka.
"The reason we're doing the supplemental study is because the original findings were silent on the spiritual issue." Orr said. "So we need to
Trafficway Teach-in
Haskell Indian Nations University will sponsor free lectures and workshops about wetlands tomorrow at Haskell. The session will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Haskell's medicine wheel and continue through the day. For more information, call Carol Barr at 749-8428.
address that impact."
Orr's comments followed a press conference Wednesday afternoon in which Bob Martin, Haskell president, criticized the amount of information Haskell was allowed to submit for the study. He said Haskell had been asked to address the trafficway's
impact on Haskell's development and curriculum only.
Martin also said he and a panel of Haskell students, faculty and staff had drafted a statement detailing the negative impact the trafficway would have and had sent it to the administration.
But Orr said the question of the wetlands' spiritual value was meant to be part of the curriculum question and was not intended to be excluded.
"That's valuable information as far as I'm concerned," he said.
County officials have said the trafficway probably would be built over 31st street, which goes through the wetlands. Haskell students have said the construction and added traffic would disturb the wetlands.
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