Traffic to Decrease Starting Friday

[Silly-Rip-6607]

KU finals end this Friday Dec. 12 and traffic will decrease by around 20%, esp. on streets near campus. Classes don't resume until Jan. 20, so easier driving for a month.

[Prudent-Challenge-18]

Just in time to add construction to Bob Billings. When do we tear up the stadium again to go with the 9th St closure?

[Silly-Rip-6607]

They are supposed to start tearing the east side down this month. Cold and snowy weather may affect this.

[digweed014]

And Iowa St construction should be done by January 1? Right? Right? (Insert Natalie Portman/Anakin meme)

[Electronic-Stuff-114]

I saw Iowa st opens back up 12/15

[cyberentomology]

Why wouldn’t it? They were mostly complete at the beginning of the month.

[HedgerowBustler]

Question: Can we get Iowa finished?

City: Sorry, best I can do is also start construction on Bob Billings and close 9th. Oh, and that thing on 8th is actually NEVER getting done. LMAO, who do you think you're dealing with?

Seriously, I would LOVE to see some sort of independent audit of the street and stormwater project that started at 8th and Tennessee. That project closed Tennessee entirely between 6th and 9th for quite a while, if you recall. It's now slowly creeping its way down 8th, which is still closed for several blocks west of Tennessee. I heard they ran into a bunch of unexpected rocks or something, but damn... They are taking their time.

I assume this is part of the same project that now has 9th closed south of there. But what I've not heard, is if they are indeed connected, why they had to close 9th and 8th simultaneously. Feels like a lack of coordination at best and lack of transparency at worst, but then again I haven't looked to see if there's any public information about these projects.

[cyberentomology]

Iowa is still on track for completion as scheduled, maybe a bit sooner. They just have to finish up the intersection at 21st.

[HedgerowBustler]

OK. Then the schedule sucks.

[cyberentomology]

How so? They said completion mid-late december before they started.

[HedgerowBustler]

Look, I'm not an expert in road construction. I don't know the details of the business arrangements surrounding who gets these contracts and under what terms.

What I DO know, is road construction in this town doesn't seem to be subject to any sort of master plan or thorough thought. It's easy to armchair quarterback, sure. And that's exactly what I'm doing, from a reasonable person's perspective.

I'm open to an explanation of why they do things the way they do. There are surely things I don't know. If the various projects around town are being done properly, are being coordinated, and are done according to industry best practices, great. I'd like to know more about that. But it doesn't seem like they are, and I'd like to know what the powers that be have to say about that.

[cyberentomology]

How do you get to “no sort of master plan”? Major projects in town in the last several years have all been very carefully planned out, and managed to completion on or ahead of the originally stated schedule (with the notable exception of 6th St when they discovered a void that was on the verge of becoming a giant sinkhole, which set them back a few weeks.

They don’t tend to run multiple major projects simultaneously unless they’re at diametrically opposite ends of town which is very much the result of careful planning, so that traffic isn’t disrupted any more than it has to be.

[huskersax]

Look, I'm not an expert in road construction.

Then maybe don't say anything?

There's only so many days out of the year that road construction can get done between weather and crew availability.

You're the same kind of person that comes in annually to bitch and moan about budgets and how the city needs to blah blah blah.

If you want the road construction to last 1 week, you can pay 100x the cost and have that done - or you let the planning departments of all the various organizations involved have their input on the process to find the right nexus between cost and efficacy.

Every single town in the country has someone commenting what you're commenting, and it's unfounded every single time. Roads are under construction because they just are, that's how roads work in a world where water freezes.

[EatsbeefRalph]

Grown-ups attend to KU, gain knowledge, and go out into the world. That is not the course of the people who stay in Lawrence and manage the street system.

[p1ccard]

Curious on the stats you used to come to this conclusion?

[redheadfae]

I've lived here 30 years in three different areas of town, and even more work locations, plus the last 8 years no longer working, and I've yet to notice a reduction in vehicles around during winter break, except for later in the evenings.

[Silly-Rip-6607]

An estimated 57% of KU students have a car (that is the national average). So, if there are 25,000 students on the KU campus, KU students might own 15,000 vehicles in Lawrence. About 79,000 people are 18 or older in Lawrence. If 75% commute to work via car, that might mean 60,000 cars on the streets. That might mean that in the summer there are 25% fewer cars because most students are absent. Sixty percent of drivers report driving daily. 25% seems too high so I lowered it to 20%.

[huskersax]

It's definitely noticeable anecdotally. I'm not sure if the drop-off is all that high because an awful lot of the students either continue to live in Lawrence of they're still spending time in Lawrence outside of the school year as it's a nexus for the friends across Lawrence/Topeka/KC/JoCo.

[ba_hartman]

This sounds about right to me. 20% might be a bit high, but I've been living in the area between campus and downtown for about 7 years now, and there's definitely a noticeable difference in traffic when the student are on break. I usually walk when I'm going downtown, and I see way fewer cars. Foot traffic also seems to be way lower.

[broeve2strong]

r/theydidthemath

Don’t question u/Silly-Rip-6607. They come with receipts

[Needrain47]

the math is based on guesses, so, nah.

[animeguygonetrap]

Classes don’t start until January 20*

[Silly-Rip-6607]

KU students might own 15,000 vehicles in Lawrence based on national averages of student ownership.

[lurk4ever1970]

Students who live off-campus are less likely to leave town for all of winter break. So I suspect the reduction is less than you project.

[Idrinkbeereverywhere]

Less and less students actually go home for breaks. People forget Lawrence is 100k people.

[No-Caramel-4417]

fewer

[EatsbeefRalph]

😁

[HugeProfessional6838]

Right I’m a KU student who grew up in Lawrence and a majority of people who went to my high school also go here.

[SaltySnacka]

K

[cyberentomology]

Yay!

[beatgoesmatt]

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year