New plan emerges to keep two-way traffic on New Hampshire Street

Plans to make a busy downtown route a one-way street for up to two years may not be necessary after all.

The construction firm that will build a proposed multi-story apartment and office building at Ninth and New Hampshire streets has submitted a new plan that would allow two-way traffic in the 800 block of New Hampshire for much of the two-year construction project.

Previously, Lawrence-based First Construction had wanted to close all northbound traffic from Ninth Street north to the mid-block crosswalk, in order to provide the necessary room to store construction equipment and keep workers a safe distance from traffic.

The new plan will allow for two lanes of traffic by removing on-street parking along the west side of New Hampshire throughout the construction zone. The project will cause about eight parking spaces to be lost on New Hampshire. The city is proposing that about eight parking spaces in the city-owned lot on the west side of New Hampshire be reserved for use by customers of the various businesses located at the northwest corner of the intersection. Those businesses rely heavily on the on-street spaces that are being lost, said Mark Thiel, the citys assistant director of public works.

We dont want to hurt businesses by having this construction downtown, which long-term will be very good for downtown, said City Commissioner Jeremy Farmer.

The new plan has arisen after several downtown stakeholders expressed concerned about another long-term disruption in traffic patterns for the area. A portion of the 900 block of New Hampshire has been reduced to one lane while the same construction group builds a multi-story hotel and retail building on the southeast corner of the intersection.

The latest project will build a mix of apartments and offices on the northeast corner of the intersection. The Downtown Lawrence Farmers' Market uses the city-owned lot just north of the proposed construction site. Thiel said the construction plans will cause a loss of about seven parking spots in that lot. He also noted, however, that the remainder of the lot will be available for parking and use by the farmers market. He said the mid-block crosswalk that leads to the market area also will be open throughout the project.

There will be short periods that construction work will require one or both lanes near the construction site to be closed, Thiel said. That includes work to replace a waterline buried beneath the street. But Thiel said businesses and residents in the area will receive notice ahead of time before the lanes are closed. Traffic also will be shifted farther to the south on the portion of Ninth Street that is adjacent to the construction zone, but two-way traffic will be maintained on Ninth.

Farmer said he knows the construction work is causing some frustration among downtown businesses and visitors but said he hasnt found a better way to create a safe construction zone for the project.

We just need to make sure we have lots of conversations to minimize the impacts, Farmer said. I dont want people to be frustrated, because ultimately this development is going to be a really good deal for downtown.

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New plan emerges to keep two-way traffic on New Hampshire Street