This seems like the perfect year for Downtown Lawrence to experiment with closing at least part of Massachusetts Street for the annual sidewalk sale, scheduled for July 20.

Northbound lanes of Massachusetts already are closed in the 700 and 800 blocks, and traffic is creeping along in the southbound lanes, making use of temporary stop signs instead of signals at Eighth and Massachusetts. Why not just close those two blocks and give businesses and pedestrians some room to breathe on the busy sidewalk sale day?

A number of parking spaces would be lost on the west side of Massachusetts Street, but the spaces will be extremely difficult to access that day anyway, and construction work increases the hazard of mixing heavy pedestrian traffic with heavy vehicle traffic. Even if work on the waterlines is halted for the sale, there will be plenty of hazards for pedestrians to navigate without having vehicles in the 700 and 800 blocks.

Downtown Lawrence officials had indicated they might want to do something special to promote this year’s sale and attract shoppers downtown in spite of the construction work. Closing a couple of blocks of Massachusetts Street would give them the room to stage some special events or entertainment.

City officials have shown a willingness to follow merchants’ lead in trying to minimize the detrimental impact of the waterline replacement project on downtown businesses. The construction offers the perfect opportunity for Downtown Lawrence to try a new sidewalk sale strategy that might become a tradition.