Lawrence Journal-World 08-29-11

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Lack of use takes a toll on SLT bridge By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com

Turns out a road not traveled still yields to Mother Nature and Father Time. A highway bridge that crosses Iowa Street, at the eastern edge of the South Lawrence Trafficway, is showing minor signs of wear despite never carrying any traffic during its entire life. No tractor-trailers, pickup trucks, SUVs, school buses, sports cars, bicycles or anything else with wheels have traveled

across the 174.5-foot-long bridge for the past 15 years, while the remainder of the nearly 9-milelong trafficway accommodates anywhere from 5,000 to more than 10,000 vehicles per day. “It’s the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ right now,” said Earl Bosak, area engineer for the Kansas Department of Transportation. “Anything that man builds deteriorates, especially if you don’t use it — I don’t care if it’s a house or a bridge or a car or anything. If you just leave it sit, it will deteriorate faster than if you use it.”

The bridge is far from dilapidated, according to the department’s most recent bridge inspection. On a scale of 1 to 10, with a 10 indicating pristine conditions, both the bridge’s deck and superstructure rate an 8, or “very good.” An inspection in May 2010 indicated that the bridge’s substructure, or vertical support systems, rated a 7, or “good.” While that remains far from any level of concern — “That bridge’ll be there probably 60 years,” Bosak said — the rating

is one notch below the “very good” assigned to another bridge that had been built at the same time less than a mile to the west. That trafficway bridge nearby, over Yankee Take Creek, carries 5,820 vehicles per day. “If it just sits there, nature will take its course faster than Mike Yoder/Journal-World File Photo if you use it,” said Bosak, who is responsible for more than 600 TRAFFIC ENTERS AND EXITS the eastern end of the miles of state highways in Doug- South Lawrence Trafficway near what is approximatelas, Osage, Lyon and half of Wa- ly 35th and Iowa Street in this November 2010 file photo. A bridge at the end of the roadway has never Please see BRIDGE, page 2A been used in the 15 years since it was built.

Trash talks suggest new era around corner

Prison farm in Leavenworth feeds growing food needs in area

CONTAINERS WITH COMPOST and red worms sit in an airconditioned vermiculture room that produces a highnutrient fertilizer used for crops produced at prison. BELOW, large containers throughout the facility collect rainwater, which is used to irrigate garden plots. The garden employs many such sustainability practices.

More recycling likely to be offered By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

The work of the city’s Solid Waste Task Force isn’t done yet, but Lawrence Mayor Aron Cromwell senses an emerging theme. “I think this really could be the very beginning of a new era of recycling in Lawrence,” Cromwell said. If Cromwell’s sense is right, expect that new era to include mandated plastic trash carts and a much more aggressive curbside recycling program. Cromwell said he thinks the task force is close to reaching consensus on requiring residents to use plastic trash carts that can be hooked up to hydraulic lifts on sanitation trucks, making the process quicker and safer for the city’s trash crews. But the carts would mean that residents wouldn’t be allowed to set out traditional trash cans or bags for pickup, except on special dates established by the city. Cromwell also said the task force will have serious discussions in the next several weeks about a program that would require all city residents to pay for a curbside recycling program, regardless of whether they use it. Cromwell said one idea is that all city households would receive — and pay for — two plastic carts: one for trash and one for recyclable materials.

Kevin Anderson/Journal-World Photos

THE DOME OF THE LEAVENWORTH federal penitentiary rises in the background as inmates work in the garden area that is part of a Therapy and Mentoring Horticulture Program.

Inmate labor yields produce for food pantries By Shaun Hittle sdhittle@ljworld.com

HOW TO HELP

For more information or to donate, contact Brian Habjan at 913-758-2822 or brian.habjan@ Lawrence residents strug- commercebank.com. gling with hunger have received a helping hand this expects twice that. summer from an unlikely Kansas University gradusource: inmates at the Leav- ate student Raven Naraenworth Federal Prison. more heard about the project On 17 acres, about 50 through a family member and minimum-security inmates has helped get the fruits and tend to an organic and self- veggies to the Lawrence Just sustaining farm as part of the Food food bank. prison’s Therapy and MenThe project features cuttoring Horticulture Program. ting-edge sustainability pracLast summer, the project tices, said Joe Mason, prison yielded more than 100,000 food services coordinator. pounds of produce used at Mason walks the prison the prison or donated to food grounds explaining rainwater banks. This year, prison staff collecting tubs, the half-acre ONLINE: See the video at LJWorld.com

A NEW YORK CITY taxi is stranded in deep water on Manhattan’s West Side as Tropical Storm Irene passes through the city on Sunday. Irene’s torrential rain couple with high winds and tides worked in concert to flood parts of the city.

Please see PRISON, page 2A

JEREMY FARMER, LEFT, AND AND ACE HICKEY push a load of watermelons from the fields at Leavenworth Federal Prison that were delivered to Just Food by volunteers working with the Therapy and Mentoring Horticulture Program. About 500 pounds of produce were delivered Thursday to the food warehouse in Lawrence.

By Beth Fouhy and Samantha Gross Associated Press

Peter Morgan/AP Photo

NEW YORK — Stripped of hurricane rank, Tropical Storm Irene spent the last of its fury Sunday, leaving treacherous flooding and millions without power — but an unfazed New York and relief that it was nothing like the nightmare authori-

ties feared. Slowly, the East Coast surveyed the damage — up to $7 billion by one private estimate. The center of Irene crossed into Canada late Sunday, but for many the danger had not passed. Rivers and creeks turned into raging torrents tumbling with limbs and parts of buildings in

northern New England and upstate New York. Flooding was widespread in Vermont, and hundreds of people were told to leave the capital, Montpelier, which could get flooded twice: once by Irene and once by a utility trying to save an overwhelmed dam. Meanwhile, the nation’s most populous region looked to a

INSIDE Classified Comics Deaths Dilbert

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Events listings Horoscope Movies Opinion

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Today’s forecast, page 10A

Please see TRASH, page 2A

Irene: Wet, deadly and expensive, but no monster

Storm chance

High: 86

compost plot and the indoor worm bins, where red, wiggly worms process the prison’s food waste, turning it into a nutrient-rich liquid called “black gold” that will be used on the crops as fertilizer. “It’s a very green system,” Mason said. The project costs taxpayers nothing, as all the seeds, equipment and labor is salvaged or donated by community members. “Everything’s about partnerships,” Mason said. More than half of the produce is distributed to nonprofit groups throughout the region, and there’s a planned shipment to tornado-stricken

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new week and the arduous process of getting back to normal. New York lifted its evacuation order for 370,000 people and said subway service, shut down for the first time by a natural disaster, will be partially restored today, though it warned riders to expect long lines and Please see IRENE, page 7A

COMING TUESDAY Coverage of Sheahon Zenger’s address on the state of Kansas Athletics Inc.

Vol.153/No.241 36 pages

Energy smart: The JournalWorld makes the most of renewable resources. www.b-e-f.org


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