Even if your kids don’t currently walk or bike to school, weigh in on our draft plans to make walking and biking to school in Lawrence, Eudora, and Baldwin City more comfortable. After temporarily pausing the Safe Routes to School planning process in March due to COVID-19, the Lawrence – Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has decided to move Lawrence, Eudora, and Baldwin City Safe Routes to School Plans forward for approval.
In Lawrence and Douglas County, the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program is called Be Active Safe Routes. Safe Routes to School is a national program using comprehensive approaches to improving walking and biking for all kids. In addition to improving safety, Be Active Safe Routes benefits communities by reducing traffic congestion and air pollution, increasing the opportunity to be physically active and building community cohesion. The goal of the program is to develop comfortable routes for all and improve the health and well-being of children by encouraging them to safely walk and bicycle to school.
In 2019-2020, the SRTS working group (Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health, Lawrence Public Schools, the City of Lawrence, Lawrence-Douglas County MPO, USD 491, City of Eudora, USD 348, and City of Baldwin City) conducted a 15-month planning process to develop citywide SRTS plans. Through parent surveys, travel tallies, and mobile meetings, the SRTS working group developed mapped routes and strategies to make it easier and more comfortable for kids to walk and bike. Each plan contains strategies to construct and maintain comfortable routes to school, to implement traffic control to improve driver behavior, to evaluate crossing guards placement, and to educate and encourage families to bicycle and walk to school. Before these plans can be approved, we first need to hear from you!
The draft Safe Routes to School Plans will be available for public review online at: https://lawrenceks.org/safe-routes; paper copies are available for review at Lawrence City Hall Riverfront – Planning & Development Services Office (1 Riverfront Plaza, Suite 320) from 8 am to 4 pm, Baldwin City Public Library, Eudora City Hall, and Lawrence Public Library.
- October 2 – October 19: Take our quick survey providing public comment at https://lawrenceks.org/mpo/tellus
- Mail public comments to Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Office, PO Box 708, Lawrence, KS 66044-0708
- After the public comment period, October 2 – October 19, the plans are scheduled for review and approval at the following public meetings. If you would like to comment, please sign up in advance when each meeting’s agenda is released prior to the meeting. Meeting agendas will be uploaded at https://lawrenceks.civicweb.net/Portal/5382/BoardsandCommissions.
- Baldwin City and Eudora residents
- Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting via Zoom
- MPO Policy Board meeting via Zoom
- Lawrence residents
- Multimodal Transportation Commission meeting via Zoom
- Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting via Zoom
- MPO Policy Board meeting via Zoom
*Dates for each meeting can be found at: https://lawrenceks.civicweb.net/Portal/5382/BoardsandCommissions.
For more information, go to https://lawrenceks.org/safe-routes.
For questions contact Jessica Mortinger, Transportation Planning Manager, Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization, at (785) 832-3165 or jmortinger@lawrenceks.org.