Douglas County commissioners want to prepare for increasing traffic south of Lawrence and the need for improved east-west roadways and new bridges.

Next year might be a good time to set aside money to pay for a study to determine which roads are likely to become major thoroughfares, commissioners said Monday.

“To me, the plan to start is a vision,” Commissioner Charles Jones said. “I don’t think we can afford to wait.”

That includes not waiting to find out what happens with the long-stalled completion of the last leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway. That SLT section would skirt the southern outskirts of Lawrence east of U.S. Highway 59 and connect to Kansas Highway 10.

Traffic, especially truck traffic coming from the south, will seek routes to avoid Lawrence and connect with K-10, Commissioner Bob Johnson said. That traffic will increase as the new Highway 59 is completed, he said. The $235 million, four-lane Highway 59 project through Franklin and Douglas counties is supposed to be completed by 2012.

A study should identify where key arterial roadways would be so the county can look at what additional right-of-way land should be obtained, Johnson said.