Additional time or deliberations probably won’t have much effect on where state officials choose to rebuild U.S. Highway 59 south of Lawrence. It’s time for the project to move ahead.

Given the choices on routes for a new U.S. Highway 59 south of Lawrence, Douglas County commissioners probably made the right decision by supporting a plan to build a freeway about 300 feet east of the existing highway.

The commissioners’ opinion will go to the Kansas Department of Transportation, which will make the final decision on the route. Although KDOT officials have held a number of public meetings supposedly to gather input on the U.S. 59 route, they have dismissed all options except for the two they favored from the outset of the project. Those two options both are expensive four-lane freeways that would be built east of the current highway.

The two plans are similar in many respects. The one favored by the county would be built about 300 feet east of the existing road and cost $210.3 million. It would displace 33 residences and eight businesses and affect 883 acres of farmland, according to KDOT. The other option is to build a freeway a mile east of the existing road at a cost of $199.4 million. That road would displace 11 homes and eight businesses and affect 869 acres of farmland.

Although the $10.9 million difference in cost between the two projects is a significant amount, it represents only about 5 percent of the total cost of the project. And although more residences would be displaced by the route favored by the commission, the other route cuts more deeply into the rural landscape in a way that might raise increased environmental issues during construction or development issues after the road is complete.

Perhaps the main issue that tips this scale in favor of the county’s choice is the expectation that a road 300 feet east of the highway could be built more quickly because it would avoid legal and regulatory problems that could be raised with the other route. Commissioner Bob Johnson estimated that moving the road a mile east would delay the project by a year to 18 months. Given the number of serious accidents that occur on that stretch of road, that’s an important factor.

Construction on the road is slated to begin in 2007. That’s five years away. During a five-year span from 1995 to 1999, 11 people died and 193 were injured in traffic accidents on the 18-mile stretch of U.S. 59. There is no time to waste.

Many area residents still wonder why the state has adamantly refused to consider making use of the existing U.S. 59 roadbed in the reconstruction project despite extensive public input favoring that option. Some residents also still favor far-less-extensive improvements that would expand the highway to a “super-two” highway or a four-lane expressway.

State officials contend that the increased safety of a freeway justifies building a new road to the east and placing the existing road under county control to serve local traffic. County commissioners weren’t entirely satisfied with the options presented to them by KDOT, but a choice has been made.

It will be interesting to see how KDOT responds to this latest round of solicited public input. It seems that throughout this process, public opinion has had little effect on KDOT decisions. At this point in the process, probably the best area residents can hope for is that, whichever alignment state officials choose, the project will move ahead quickly. With a rate of more than two fatalities a year, a safer alternative to the existing U.S. 59 can’t come too soon.