To the editor:

I would like to commend Planning Commissioner John Haase for taking a long-range view of our local automobile and truck transportation system. His plan to emphasize the K-10 to I-70 connection east of town and an upgrading of 31st Street is an intelligent solution to our local traffic problems.

The development on the west side of town since the South Lawrence Trafficway was originally planned has moved our serious traffic congestion to Sixth Street, on the north side of town. Any highway built on the south side of the city will only increase the traffic there. This has been demonstrated in several cities nationwide. The SLT will not decrease street traffic in Lawrence, the grounds on which it was sold to the public. It’s true function is to facilitate cross-country freight transportation: truck traffic. KDOT admitted this in the extensive discussions conducted several years ago. It will be roaring noise 24 hours a day, like the interstates.

The proper corridors for this truck traffic are I-70 and I-35. This has been the plan for decades, and I do not believe that the city of Lawrence or Douglas County must yield to the Kansas Department of Transportation and their grand plan for our area. We have the right and responsibility to plan our transportation system ourselves and solve our local traffic problems, not support the corporate agenda which runs the state’s transportation plan.

Richard Morantz,

Baldwin