The South Lawrence Trafficway should have no stoplights. It should be four lanes all the way through. And the eastern leg should be completed within five years.

Those were some recommendations given Monday afternoon during an online chat by Les Hannon, a retired engineer who has been working on a 25-year plan that envisions Lawrence with population 140,000.

“I believe there should be no traffic lights or level crossings at the SLT,” Hannon said during the chat on the Journal-World’s Web site, ljworld.com.

“All connections should be over or under with ramps, so that traffic flow is not impeded on the SLT once it is completed,” he said.

Hannon said the SLT should be finished relatively soon, “certainly in the next five years.”

To get the SLT built, city leaders should use the $1.5 million in federal funds earmarked for the project to begin preliminary planning on the four-lane eastern leg.

• Chat with Les Hannon about mapping Lawrence’s future (12-13-05)

“Following that, we should plan for the extra two lanes on the western leg so that it is four lanes right through,” he said.

To read the entire chat transcript, go to http://www.ljworld.com/future on your favorite Web browser.