Rarely is the sight of a red flag desired, yet the perception of such flags seems to be changing because of traffic-calming devices on 23rd Street between Louisiana Street and Haskell Avenue.

Red flags are attached to no- left-hand turn road signs along the busy Lawrence street. The signs for the pilot program were installed in January and designed to help curb traffic accidents.

An online poll on the city’s Web site (www.lawrenceks.org) has attracted many responses about the left-hand turn road signs. Tamara Bennett, public works administration manager, said the feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

“The most frequent comment is that we should either extend the time scale to catch the a.m. rush hour or make it 24 hours a day,” Bennett said.

The no-left-hand turn currently is in effect between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Another common response, Bennett said, is requests for the same scheme to be implemented on Iowa Street and Sixth Street.

In January, the Lawrence City Commission approved a proposal to restripe parts of Sixth Street, allowing for a left-hand turn lane between Maine and Massachusetts streets. It is hoped the center turn lane would increase the traffic flow while lessening the accident rate.

Terese Gorman, the city’s engineer, said accidents on Sixth Street, stemming from left-hand-turns were of “fairly high frequency” and that a center turn lane would definitely make it safer. The re-striping project will cost approximately $400,000 and be funded by the city and state.

The project has received some opposition. The Old West Lawrence Neighborhood Assn. had previously written a letter opposing the project because they believed the project would attract more drivers to turn into the neighborhood. Karen Kressin, an association representative, said it no longer had an official stance.

Chuck Soules, the city’s director of public works, said the association originally believed the road was being expanded.

“We are not expanding the road; we are restriping it,” he said. “We don’t feel this will put any more traffic into the neighborhood.”

The restriping will alter the current unused shoulder and four 12-foot lanes. The project will be done in conjunction with the repaving of Sixth Street this summer when Sixth Street will become four 11-foot lanes with a 12-foot center lane.