KU News Release

LAWRENCE — The Kansas chapter of the American Planning Association honored three University of Kansas graduate students for their study of regional high-occupancy vehicles — those capable of transporting more than one person — in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

Two of the honored KU students, Gabriel Scott Casner, of Kansas City, Kan., and Lance Christopher White, of St. Louis, earned master’s degrees in urban planning in spring 2009. Tyler O’Donnell Means, of Wichita, plans to graduate this semester with a master’s degree in urban planning.

Pictured from left to right: Tyler Means, Gabriel Casner and Sara Copeland, president of the Kansas chapter of the American Planning Association.

Casner and Means were able to attend the Nov. 5 meeting of the state chapter in Wichita to receive the 2009 New Horizon Award.

The annual award is given to a student or a team of students for a project that “pushes the boundaries of planning in creative and innovate ways.”

The KU graduate students were charged with developing a strategy for high-occupancy vehicle lanes — highway lanes devoted to vehicles with multiple passengers — in the Kansas City area for the Mid-America Regional Council. The students worked with a variety of stakeholders to develop a comprehensive strategy.

Ron Achelpohl, assistant director of transportation for the regional council, described
the student work as “well-reasoned and thorough” and said it helped “the Kansas City metropolitan area advance its goal of more efficient, equitable and sustainable mobility.”

The study was the major assignment in Transportation Planning Implementation, taught by Marcy Smalley, adjunct professor in KU’s School of Architecture, Design and Planning. The 2010 class will tackle a regional transit plan for the greater Wichita area.

The 81-page final report from the 2009 class is available online.

The award-winning alumni and student are listed below by hometown, parents’ names, previous degrees earned and high school, when available.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Wichita 67212
Tyler O’Donnell Means, master’s degree student in urban planning; son of Tim and Carolyn Means; bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from KU, fall 2007; Wichita High School Northwest.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY
From Kansas City 66109
Gabriel Scott Casner, master’s of urban planning from KU, spring 2009; bachelor’s degree from Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, 2003; he works for the Urban Planning and Land Use Department for the Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas/Wyandotte County.

MISSOURI
From St. Louis 63138
Lance Christopher White, master’s degree in urban planning from KU, spring 2009; son of Eddie White; bachelor’s degree from University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006.