From a planning perspective, it’s as clear as day – Peterson Road needs to be extended to alleviate Sixth Street congestion.

“We definitely have a big issue with Sixth Street being the only east-west street that intersects with the South Lawrence Trafficway,” said Bill Ahrens, the transportation planner for the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department. “There is no question that we need some relief for Sixth Street.”

Despite that agreement, the city’s comprehensive plan, Horizon 2020, doesn’t show any such extension for Peterson Road, which is the first major road north of Sixth Street.

The Peterson Road story is an example of how planning issues that seem relatively simple can get complicated.

Lawrence-Douglas County planning commissioners this fall approved a change to Horizon 2020 that would have called for extending the road, which currently ends at Folks Road, westward to the South Lawrence Trafficway.

But the proposed route sparked immediate criticism. The route would have passed straight west through two natural areas that the city has acquired for future parkland. Both of the properties’ former owners – developer Doug Compton, who sold his land to the city, and Bob and Betty Lichtwardt, who donated nearly 40 acres to the city – objected to the route.

“To build a road there would not only destroy the general terrain of the area, but it would also cause tremendous disruption to the entire watershed,” said Betty Lichtwardt, who said the heavily forested, steeply sloped property was a critical natural drainage area for the entire northwest Lawrence area.

Planning commissioners had considered another route, which would take the extension farther north and run the road along the existing North 1750 Road, also known as Wiggins Road. That road currently stretches west of the South Lawrence Trafficway. But Ahrens said planning commissioners felt that route also had significant environmental issues because it runs adjacent to Baldwin Creek, which could make widening the road difficult.

In October, Lawrence city commissioners rejected the idea of extending the road straight west through the future parkland. But commissioners also stopped short of endorsing the North 1750 route. Instead, commissioners simply told planning commissioners to study the issue more.

City Commissioner Sue Hack said she hoped that wouldn’t be a recipe for the road issue to be forgotten.

“We need an engineer to look at the issues in that area and advise us,” Hack said. “But the point we need to remember is that it has to be done.”

Ahrens said planning commissioners were scheduled to begin studying the issue again soon, but he said there was no firm timeline for when they would complete their work. But Ahrens said he believed planning commissioners were sensitive to the importance of the project.

“I think that is why they pushed it forward to begin with because they don’t want it to get stalled,” Ahrens said. “They recognize that we really need something to happen here.”