Lawrence Journal-World 09-21-2015

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MONDAY • SEPTEMBER 21 • 2015

SOUTH LAWRENCE TRAFFICWAY

Expansion could nix interchange

By Mackenzie Clark Twitter: @mclark59

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photos

SUPERINTENDENT RICK DOLL TALKS ABOUT NEW INTERIOR WINDOWS AT LANGSTON HUGHES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL that provide teachers and students a view into the hallways and new learning pockets. BELOW: One renovation at Langston Hughes was the installation of a glass window divider between the hallway and cafeteria where before there had been a wall.

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LEARNING

The Lawrence Parade of Schools open house will be held 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Langston Hughes, Cordley, Hillcrest, New York and Quail Run elementary schools. In addition, there will be a ribboncutting ceremony for the new Lawrence College and Career Center, 2910 Haskell Ave., 10 a.m. Saturday.

A look inside the renovations at Langston Hughes

By Rochelle Valverde Twitter: @RochelleVerde

Editor’s note: This story is the first in a sixpart series preceding Saturday’s public tour of the recently completed construction projects in the Lawrence school district. With the click of locks by administrators in the new front office of Langston Hughes

Elementary School, 1101 George Williams Way, visitors to the renovated school step onto a floor of polished concrete. To the left, where there used to be a solid wall, are floorto-ceiling glass doors that look into the cafeteria and can retract electronically. “It is wonderful to be able to open them Please see SCHOOL, page 2A

One possible result of expanding the west leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway to four lanes, matching its eastern counterpart, would eliminate the interchange at Clinton Parkway. But that change could have a major impact on business as well as the nearby Clinton Lake and surrounding park. To expand to four lanes, the tight curve where the SLT — also Kansas Highway 10 — turns from nearly due east and west to due north and south would need to be flattened. This area of the road does not meet freeway standards in speed or rate of curvature, said Steve Baalman, a metro engineer with the Kansas Department of Transportation. Because the Clinton Parkway interchange surrounds the elbow of that curve, it would need to either be eliminated or completely reconstructed. “Not having (an interchange) there is obviously cleaner for us for the freeway section that we have to slip through there, and it’s easier for us,” Baalman said. In general, Baalman said, the plans to modify the road would help prevent traffic backups and remove several conflict

Not having (an interchange) there is obviously cleaner for us for the freeway section that we have to slip through there, and it’s easier for us.” — Steve Baalman, a metro engineer with the Kansas Department of Transportation points, many of which include at-grade intersections. “It’s separating local traffic from K-10 traffic, and that will improve safety,” Baalman said. But Greg DiVilbiss, a local developer who owns some commercial property nearby, said removing the Clinton Parkway interchange could be “devastating” for property values. “You would basically eliminate any outside traffic from Lawrence coming to that (potential) shopping center, because the only people who would be going to Clinton Lake (from Clinton Parkway) would be people who live in Lawrence,” he said. He cited some shopping centers in Overland Park that aren’t conveniently accessible from the highways, many of which have Please see SLT, page 2A

Tim Rues and the small town with big history By Conrad Swanson Twitter: @Conrad_Swanson

W

hen new visitors climb the steps to Lecompton’s Constitution Hall and cross the antiquated building’s cottonwood floors, they’ll find Tim Rues waiting. He’ll quietly ask his audience where they come from and point to the building’s

timeline, which is posted near the entrance. “We’ve been waiting for you for 159 years,” he’ll say, highlighting the 1856 date when the hall was first built. For the past 20 years, Rues has worked as the administrator of Constitution Hall, 319 Elmore St., one of the town’s museums and a United States National Historic Landmark. He keeps watch over the grounds and

Please see HISTORY, page 2A

Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo

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teaches elementary students on up to professional historians about Bleeding Kansas, a seven-year period of political discourse, warfare and turmoil between the area’s pro-slavery and abolitionist populations. Many of the roots for the Bleeding Kansas period lead directly back to Lecompton, Rues said. The

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ADMINISTRATOR AND HISTORIAN TIM RUES has been a fixture of Constitution Hall since its inception as a historical museum in July 1995. In addition to educating visitors about the Bleeding Kansas years leading up to the Civil War, Rues typically re-enacts the part of U.S. Sen. James Lane, who served as a Union general during the Civil War.

Vol.157/No.264 26 pages

Have a seat Some East Lawrence residents have begun putting out improvised bus stop seating where none is present. Page 3A

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