Lawrence Loop Shared Use Path

The Lawrence Loop is a series of connected 10-foot-wide shared use trails around the city of Lawrence. The Loop provides non-motorist users of all ages and abilities with transportation, exercise, access and connectivity to local parks, neighborhoods and the city’s vibrant downtown. When complete, it will provide 22 miles of continuous urban greenway around the city’s perimeter, eventually connecting to future trail spokes into the city. 

In 2020, the city selected TREKK to provide conceptual study and design for the Loop segment from Peterson Park to Michigan Street on the city’s north side. The project started with a discovery phase, which included land survey and a conceptual study to confirm budget, make recommendations on pedestrian actuated crossings at Iowa and Michigan streets, and determine the most feasible way to construct the pedestrian underpass near the Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA) terminal at McDonald Drive accessing I-70.

After the conceptual study, TREKK provided engineering and design for the shared use path, as well as two Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon pedestrian crossings at Iowa and Michigan Streets. To cross the KTA terminal, a 163-foot long, 12×12-foot reinforced box culvert pedestrian tunnel with lighting was installed under McDonald Drive. A 50-x12-foot pedestrian bridge connects the shared use path on each side of the Hallmark Tributary immediately east of the underpass. The project also included complicated drainage design and driveways to meet ADA requirements.  

TREKK later provided survey and design services for a contiguous segment of the Lawrence Loop shared use path from Michigan Street to Sandra Shaw Park. For this segment, the discovery phase included a hydrologic and hydraulic report to model and analyze the impacts of the shared-use path within the floodplain including a pedestrian creek crossing. We then designed the shared use path and the proposed pedestrian crossing, which included a double 9X10-foot reinforced concrete box culvert.