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City seeks roughly $23 million RAISE grant for ADA sidewalks and transit stops; advisory board authorizes support letter
Summary
City staff described a RAISE grant application that would fund ADA sidewalk reconstruction, bus-stop improvements and crossings in persistent-poverty corridors; the Connected Cities advisory board authorized the chair to sign a letter of support.
City staff told the Connected Cities advisory board they are preparing a RAISE (formerly BUILD) grant application to reconstruct ADA sidewalks, improve bus stops and add pedestrian crossings in high-priority corridors and areas of persistent poverty. The advisory board unanimously authorized the chair to sign a letter of support for the application.
Melinda Harger, assistant director of Municipal Services and Operations, told the board the application is due Jan. 30 and that the city assembled the project from existing plans to be competitive. Harger said the total project cost is "just under right around, 23,000,000," and that the city would fund design costs and land acquisition from existing ADA transition-plan funding and other local sources; the RAISE request would cover construction.
Harger described targeted corridors and locations the application highlights: portions of Ninth Street (noting steep grades, retaining-wall needs and utility complexity), downtown-to-campus and downtown-to-Lawrence-Loop connections, 19th and 21st streets, Naysmith Drive, Louisiana Street and a crossing at Bob Billings Parkway and the Central Station. She said the proposal emphasizes safety, mobility, connectivity, quality of life and economic competitiveness, and that many of the proposed improvements lie in areas the federal government defines as areas of persistent poverty.
Staff said applicants will learn award decisions in mid-summer (the city expects a June notice) and that, if awarded, construction on the RAISE project likely would not start until early 2027 because design, property acquisition and federal drawdown processes take time. Harger noted that the Jayhawk Watershed stormwater project will do work along Ninth Street in spring 2026; the RAISE project would be timed to begin after that work.
The advisory board took one formal action: a motion to authorize Chairwoman Carter to sign a letter of support for the RAISE application. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Staff said the city will use maps and data showing where sidewalk gaps and high-priority routes meet federal persistent-poverty designations to strengthen the application. They also noted the program's competitive timeline: a short application window after the notice of funding opportunity and the benefit of prior planning and mapping in making strong submissions.
