Topeka ? The Federal Highway Administration and the Kansas Department of Transportation still don’t know exactly where they should rebuild U.S. Highway 59 between Lawrence and Ottawa.

But they have settled on what it should look like.

The 18-mile stretch of highway  among the deadliest, most dangerous of its kind in the state  should give way to a four-lane freeway, the agencies said in their draft environmental impact statement for the project.

The document was released Friday in Topeka.

The draft EIS, a regulatory hurdle for road projects slated to receive federal financing, had been expected to choose a “preferred route” for the controversial project, which has been in the works since 1997. Since then it has triggered petition drives, spawned opposition groups and filled meeting halls with hundreds of people worried about the effects of construction and its resulting traffic.

But the 144-page document didn’t settle the alignment issue. Instead, it said that building a freeway following either of two routes  along the east side of the existing U.S. 59 or along the same direction a mile farther east  would cut fatality accidents by 80 percent and cut injury accidents by 60 percent.

Before deciding which way to go, officials will accept comments from the public  either in written form, or delivered in person  during a public hearing later this month, likely in Baldwin or Ottawa.

Officials hope to use the comments in developing their final EIS. The EIS should be finished by the end of the summer, with the project cleared for construction within five years.

Building along the current alignment would be the more expensive option, an estimated $210.3 million.

“Sometimes it’s a difficult balancing act,” said Carl Hill, public involvement liaison for the Kansas Department of Transportation. “We have to look at so many things. Lots of times we’re forced into positions where we can’t seem to please anybody. Â

“We want the public to tell us what they think, and their comments will not be ignored.”

Caryn Goldberg, spokeswoman for the Franklin-Douglas Counties Coalition of Concerned Citizens, said her group continued to stand by its assertion that a freeway wasn’t necessary to solve the safety problems on the highway.

Through an analysis of KDOT traffic information, Goldberg said, the coalition determined that a full two-thirds of the estimated 10,000 vehicles using U.S. 59 each day are turning off before ever getting to Lawrence or Ottawa.

Simply adding shoulders and lanes for acceleration and deceleration would satisfy traffic needs on the road, she said.

“It would make it a much safer road  and it would save lives,” she said. “That’s the most important thing: saving lives.”

If KDOT proceeds with a route a mile to the east, Goldberg said, traffic would continue to use the existing U.S. 59 Â which only would become more popular, given the heavy loads of local traffic.

“Building the freeway isn’t going to solve the safety problems,” she said.

Jere McElhaney, chairman of the Douglas County Commission, said he was convinced that the majority of county residents would prefer that the highway remain along its current route. And he’s still holding out hope that the state can come up with a plan for simply adding lanes to the existing road or building another two lanes alongside it.

A new freeway would leave the county with a maintenance headache and a financial burden on the old road.

“I’m looking forward to the safety improvements, but not the cost,” McElhaney said.

But the draft EIS clearly states that only construction of a freeway would solve the safety problems on the road.

The only real choice left is where to put it, said Marty Matthews, a KDOT spokesman.

“Based on what we’ve found so far, it’s six of one or half a dozen of another,” he said. “We’ve deferred making a decision about the alignment so that we can get more input.”