To the editor:
Every time I drive back into Lawrence from Johnson County on K-10, I fantasize about having a bypass from K-10 to northwest Lawrence via the turnpike, which many northwest Lawrence residents now use to get downtown. Such a route would provide a truly practical bypass for the people of Lawrence, the vast majority of whom live north of 23rd Street.
When you think about it, wouldn't connecting K-10 and the turnpike at northeast Lawrence be a much more sensible alternative than the proposed and controversial southeast bypass? Think about it. Who really would benefit from the southeast bypass? People who are driving up from Ottawa and want to go to Johnson County? They could take I-35. People who live in Lawrence and want to go to Johnson County? The trafficway is so far south of almost all of the residential neighborhoods of Lawrence that it really isn't all that practical for most of us.
But just imagine if those Lawrence residents who live north and west of 9th and Massachusetts had a way to easily connect from the turnpike to K-10. That would be a much more practical project than connecting K-10 and 59. It would alleviate a lot of the traffic on 23rd Street, probably much more so than the southeast bypass ever would. Such an alternative would even benefit traffic from Topeka and the west headed for Johnson County.
Because of Lawrence's growth to the northwest, it could be argued that the south Lawrence trafficway was never a very practical project for the residents of Lawrence. So who are we building it for? Perhaps it's time to abandon that project before we waste any more money and good will on a project that really only benefits a few Lawrence residents. And then we could leave the wetlands and Haskell alone.
Mike Cuenca,
Lawrence
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