Congratulations to Lawrence city commissioners for slowing down long enough to ask some questions about a proposed roundabout at 19th and Louisiana streets.

At a meeting Monday night, dozens of Lawrence residents had a chance to voice their concerns about and opposition to construction of a roundabout at the busy intersection. They pointed out that moving traffic more quickly through the intersection wouldn’t eliminate bottlenecks at other points along 19th Street. Many of the traffic problems in that area are linked to Lawrence High School which doesn’t have adequate parking for students or loading zones for school buses. Other measures, they said, would be more suited to that particular intersection.

And, to their credit, representatives of the consulting firm studying the intersection seemed to be listening and said they would consider alternatives to the roundabout that was on the drawing board.

It has seemed in the last several years that the roundabout momentum in Lawrence was unstoppable. Perhaps proposals for 19th and Louisiana will set the stage for a more measured and considered approach to the addition of roundabouts and other traffic-calming devices on Lawrence streets.