To the editor:

I have been living in Lawrence since 1986 and have traveled extensively around the country. Lawrence has been a fun place to live with an unusually diverse and liberal citizenship, especially for Kansas. However, one thing I have noticed that is very different from the cities I have traveled to is the strange way in which the city’s road department plans and manages its projects. Or should I say, lack of planning and management?

It is clear from the constant growth we have experienced that an overall traffic plan should have been in place many years ago. The bypass was a step in the right direction. I remember they were planning the bypass when we moved here in 1986, and there is still no solution in sight. Plus it should have been easy to hook up 15th to K-10 when they built half a bypass; it would have given great access to Kansas University.

Twenty-third Street is a fiasco! And who schedules these projects? Let’s see now, Sixth Street is under construction at the same time 23rd is shut down for a roundabout? Kasold is under construction along with Ninth Street. This is definitely an energy-saving move because you are surely going to be parked on our streets, just waiting for Godot.

Rowan and Martin used to give a “Fickle Finger of Fate Award” to the silliest projects of the moment. I nominate the city planning group and the roundabout on 23rd Street to receive this famous award.

Robert Herrington,

Lawrence