City commissioners tonight will have to decide whether they want to give less room to motorists and more room to bicyclists on a portion of Naismith Drive.

At their weekly meeting, commissioners will consider reducing the northbound section of Naismith Drive from 23rd Street to 19th Street from two driving lanes to one lane. The city would use the extra space to create a four-foot bike lane on the section of road.

The project would only take about $3,500 worth of restriping if the city does the project this summer when it is planning to repave the section of road. But city staff members want direction from city commissioners before they proceed, interim City Manager David Corliss said.

That’s because city engineers have determined that on days when there’s a football or basketball game on the Kansas University campus that the road needs two lanes of traffic. That means that on those days, cars would be allowed to drive in the bicycle lane. Despite that unusual situation, the Lawrence-Douglas County Bicycle Plan says the road needs a bicycle lane.

“One of the reasons we’re putting this on the city agenda is because the bicycle plan says this needs to happen, but staff members have concerns about how to respond to the bicycle plan,” Corliss said.

Mayor Mike Amyx said he’s concerned about the idea too.

“I’m willing to listen to comments about it, but it seems like we would be adding a whole lot of confusion there,” Amyx said. “It’s not like we can just remove the pavement markings on game days.”

Instead, Amyx said he believes the city should keep the stretch of road as a two-lane street. He said the city could explore other ways to add a bicycle lane in the future.

If the city adopted the changes proposed by the bicycle plan, the road would go from two 10-foot-six-inch driving lanes to one 14-foot driving lane.

Commissioners will meet at 6:35 p.m. today at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.