Master plan aims to return favorite campus route to original splendor

Jeffrey L. Bruce & Co. Landscape architects

Memorial Drive will reopen this fall after summer road repairs closed the stretch between West Campus Road and the west end of Snow Hall. Crews replaced the road and its base, which had deteriorated over the years.

The project is a precursor to what the University hopes will be a dramatic facelift. The Campus Master Plan, approved in 1997, paid special attention to cherished areas of campus, concluding that "landscape features may be as significant to a sense of tradition as signature buildings."

The plan for Memorial Drive calls for renovations to ease pedestrian access and emphasize the sweeping vista from the Memorial Campanile, over Potter Lake and Marvin Grove, down to Memorial Stadium:

-New pedestrian routes will line both the north and south sides of the drive, with new routes to connect to the top of the Hill. Parking spaces that have obscured the northern view will be moved, said University Architect Warren Corman, e'50. "No cars will be parked on the north side, and cars parked on the south will be at 90 degrees into the Hill rather than parallel," he explained. "We'll also add benches, more lighting and scenic overlooks that will allow people to really enjoy the view on the north side."

—Additional walkways will encourage more strolls through Marvin Grove and along Potter Lake.

—More plantings and landscape elements will draw attention to the Campanile as the drive's focal point.

—Ultimately, vehicular access to the drive will be restricted.

University leaders are proceeding with initial drawings for the renovation, but a timetable for construction will not be set until private funding for the project is secured, according to Corman. "After World War I, Memorial Drive was designed as a beautiful drive, not meant for parking," he said. "Over the years it has really become a concentrated parking lot and service drive to avoid the traffic booths on Jayhawk Boulevard. We want to return it to the beautiful spot it was intended to be."

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