Douglas County could advance a contested South Wakarusa Drive extension Wednesday, as commissioners consider approving an agreement for a national engineering company to complete an environmental assessment for the project.

The project, which has been a part of the county’s capital improvement plan since 2016, will extend Wakarusa Drive south about 1.5 miles to connect with Douglas County Route 5, or East 1000 Road.

The road will be a two-lane rural highway with a speed of 44 to 55 mph and will cross the Wakarusa River. 

The plan also includes a 10-foot-wide, concrete recreation path for pedestrians and bicycles parallel to the highway; a possible pond; and a screening berm between Eagle Bend Golf Course and the road. 

According to the county commission agenda item, “The proposed road is on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) that is leased to the City of Lawrence and lies within Clinton Lake Project Master Plan Unit 11.”

The City of Lawrence City and Douglas County commissions had tentatively agreed in 2022 to participate with the Kansas Department of Transportation on the Wakarusa extension as part of the expansion of the west leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway, or Kansas Highway 10, to four lanes. Together, the city and county would have financed $14 million of the $124 million overall K-10 project.

After community outcry about the Wakarusa extension, city commissioners in a 2023 meeting voted against helping the county with the project. Advocates continued to speak out against the project, citing concerns about environmental impact to the wetlands and harm to Indigenous communities who have stewarded that land for centuries.

The Army Corps is requiring the environmental assessment in collaboration with the Kansas State Historical Preservation Office. 

Per the county’s 2026 capital improvement plan for public works, the county is budgeting about $10.3 million for the Wakarusa Drive extension project.

If commissioners approve the agreement Wednesday, the county will allocate a maximum of about $277,000 to HNTB Corporation to create an EA report that would be ready for public review in August 2027. HNTB Corporation is a national firm with an office in Overland Park.

The proposed agreement outlines the scope of the environmental assessment. HNTB would be asked to assess the land’s cultural and archaeological resources; how much of the land is wetlands; threatened and endangered species in the area; and more.

The agreement also requires HNTB to create a letter to contact local tribes about the project.

“A tribal coordination letter will be prepared for distribution to applicable tribes with a potential interest in the project,” according to the draft agreement. “The letter will be prepared by HNTB and upon approval by USACE, USACE will send it to the applicable tribes. A second round of agency and tribal coordination will be initiated by the notification of the release of EA for the 30-day comment period.”

The agreement also specifies that HNTB’s archaeological survey will be completed according to Army Corps, Kansas SHPO and Osage Nation guidelines.

The proposed schedule for the environmental assessment shows periods for public comment in the summer and fall, with a final Army Corps approval deadline for the report in December. Once the Army Corps provides authorization, county staff members will return to the commission to request approval to proceed with the final design of the project. If all goes as planned, the road would be completed in November 2028, according to the timeline in the agenda.

Here’s another view of the preliminary concept for the road and its connections:

20260513-Wakarusa-south-ext-v-r

Meeting info

The commission meeting will start at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 13 in the commission chamber of the historic courthouse at 1100 Massachusetts St. 

See the commission’s full agenda at this link, and find info to attend the meeting via Zoom at this link. 

The commission welcomes written public comment until 24 hours before the meeting begins. Email written public comment to [email protected]. If you can’t email comments, written comments may be placed in the county’s dropbox in the south parking lot adjacent to the courthouse. The commission also hears live public comment during meetings.

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Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at [email protected].

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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