The short section of George Williams Way just south of Sixth Street looks like a city street to brag about.

The pavement is pothole-free. The sidewalks are smooth. The curbs and gutters are solid. The road is less than 2 years old.

But tonight, city commissioners will be asked to tear up major portions of the road as planners and engineers are now saying it is too narrow to deal with the expected traffic that commercial developments in the area will generate.

“I think this project is a real symbol of questionable long-term planning,” said City Commissioner David Schauner.

This is happening while commissioners prepare to make the next large planning decision for the area: a request for a 337,000-square-foot shopping and office center – dubbed Mercato – at the northwest corner of Sixth Street and George Williams Way. That project’s plans also are up for final approval by city commissioners tonight.

“This certainly seems like it is going to be the next large commercial area the city will have,” City Commissioner Sue Hack said.

Too narrow

The area has long been planned to house new retail stores, service businesses and offices. But city leaders now are conceding that they built a portion of George Williams Way – the major north-south road through the area – much smaller than it needed to be.

The section in question is about a one-tenth of a mile stretch between Sixth Street and Ken Ridge Drive. The road currently has one lane in each direction and a left-turn lane in the center. Chuck Soules, the city’s director of public works, now says the street will need two lanes in each direction, along with two left-turn lanes. Construction costs for the stretch of road could be about $1 million.

Adding to the cost is that the section of road also will need a single-lane roundabout at the intersection of George Williams Way and Ken Ridge Drive.

Soules said projected traffic volumes for the section of street are significantly higher than the ones that were used to design George Williams Way a little more than two years ago. City Manager David Corliss – who took over that job in September – confirmed that’s what happened, but stopped short of calling the design a mistake.

Instead, he said that it was the byproduct of a city policy that builds roads only to the size that they are needed when they open. He said he’s urging city commissioners to change that practice and begin building roads to their “ultimate configuration” in the very beginning.

“It is important that we get infrastructure in ahead of development,” Corliss said. “I’m trying to avoid us having to reconfigure streets and intersections on a regular basis.”

Building bigger

Corliss is looking to put the new practice into place with the George Williams Way project. In addition to the construction work that is needed south of Sixth Street, commissioners also are being asked to approve the extension of George Williams Way north of Sixth Street. And Corliss and Soules are proposing that the road be large and wide from the beginning.

The portion of the road closest to Sixth Street will be seven lanes wide – two through lanes in each direction, two southbound left-turn lanes and one southbound right-turn lane. As the street goes farther north, it will narrow to five lanes.

Costs for the entire road have not been finalized, but Soules said it would be a “several million dollar project.” Corliss is recommending that the city pay for $200,000 and developers who own property near the intersection pay for the rest.

Developer Brian Kubota owns property that is slated for commercial development on the southwest corner of George Williams Way and Sixth Street. He said he’s not going to oppose the city’s plan but wishes they would have been more forward-looking when they built the intersection to begin with.

Kubota’s property paid about $1 million for the existing George Williams Way. He’s estimating that he’ll pay about $1.2 million to expand the existing road. If it were all done in the beginning, he estimated there would have been about $350,000 in savings.

New retail

The other major issue on the city’s agenda is to determine how much new development to allow around the intersection. Thus far, the Mercato plan, which is being proposed by longtime Lawrence developer Duane Schwada and members of the Fritzel family, has not produced much controversy.

The proposal was approved by the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission on a 9-1 vote, and the city’s planning staff also is recommending approval. City commissioners already have approved the zoning that allows commercial development. They now are being asked to approve a preliminary development plan that spells out how the project will be designed.

The plan calls for a total of 337,700 square feet of commercial space, but only 184,600 square feet of it can house retail uses. The plan includes one large “big box” store building of 175,000 square feet. The rest of the retail is spread out in two smaller buildings.

The proposal isn’t concern-free, however. Schauner said he has concerns that the city’s growth rate doesn’t warrant this large of an expansion of retail uses.

“Just because there are more places to shop doesn’t mean that the community has more money to spend,” Schauner said. “My question is what will this do to other parts of town? I’m afraid it may hurt other parts of town.”

The developers of the project, though, said they think the project will attract a nice mix of national tenants that will slow the number of people who drive to Topeka or Kansas City to shop.

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