A few days ago, Lawrence’s new mayor, Boog Highberger, announced in reference to the South Lawrence Trafficway that “the proponents of the road need to simply realize that it is not going through the wetlands. It is not going next to Haskell Indian Nations University.”

It would be interesting to know who gave this message to the mayor, because there are many individuals who continue to believe the badly needed road eventually will be built along a route just south of the existing 31st Street.

The mayor also suggested it might be wise to consider a new bridge across the Kansas River, east of Lawrence, connecting Kansas Highway 10 and the Kansas Turnpike. It would be nice, but that idea was considered years ago by Kansas Department of Transportation officials who staked out a possible route for a river crossing but found the costs to be prohibitive.

If costs were too high many years ago, consider the price tag today. And, speaking of costs, consider how much the cost of building the SLT has soared because of the many delay tactics engineered by a small group of onlookers.

Highberger suggests the trafficway should be moved south of the Wakarusa River and that “a lot of the long-time supporters of the road will agree that a southern highway is needed.” He added that supporters of the road now should let go of the long-held notion that the highway must be built through the Baker Wetlands.

The new mayor said once the two sides can agree on that, they can begin a serious dialogue to find a sensible route south of the river that “will serve our traffic needs with minimal environmental damage.”

Highberger is correct that the “two sides” need to agree on a sensible route, but he is wrong to believe there would not be serious opposition by many landowners south of the Wakarusa if the road was realigned to push through their property.

This could become an even uglier matter with proponents on each side of the river asking which land is more deserving of protection: land now managed by Baker University that once was pasture and farm land or land that was homesteaded by early settlers and traversed by early pioneers heading west?

It would be nice if the trafficway matter was, indeed, settled as the mayor suggests, but unless he knows something different than many others closely involved in the matter, it is far from settled. Traffic congestion on 23rd Street and K-10 will become even greater and more dangerous, and the cost of completing the missing highway link continues to soar.

The South Lawrence Trafficway story is not something of which to be proud. The mayor is right: The matter should be solved, but it appears the only way he thinks it can be settled is on a route of which he approves.