Craig Sundell shakes his head in amazement at the way Lawrence has allowed itself to be locked in a more than decadelong debate on where the final leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway should be built.

In his mind, there’s a perfect solution for settling the controversy: a countywide vote.

Sundell and Lawrence resident Rex Youngquist have formed a new political action committee that is pushing for Douglas County commissioners to put the route question up for a vote, perhaps as soon as the November election.

“We really think there are issues that the elected officials can’t agree on, so we think it is time to let people vote,” said Sundell, a paleontologist who gives educational presentations at schools. “I think we have elected officials who believe their position is the majority position, but they really aren’t sure. This would clear it up.”

Little official interest

The idea – which Sundell and Youngquist first announced publicly in an ad in Thursday’s Journal-World – didn’t spark much interest with several elected officials.

Douglas County Commissioner Bob Johnson, a supporter of a controversial 32nd Street route through the Baker Wetlands, said he wasn’t sure what good a public vote would do, because many of the key decisions about the road are controlled by the Kansas Department of Transportation, not local governments.

Craig Sundell, of Lawrence, holds a sign expressing his point of view on the completion of the South Lawrence Trafficway. Sundell is part of a political action committee seeking a public vote on where the final leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway should be built.

“I don’t think it would really change anything. I think KDOT has every intention of building the road on 32nd Street as soon as they get funding to do it,” said Johnson, who believes the project has a good chance of receiving funding during a new state comprehensive transportation plan that could be approved in 2009 or 2010.

City Commissioner David Schauner, an opponent of the 32nd Street route, said he also opposed a public referendum.

“I just don’t think a vote of the public will do much right now,” Schauner said.

He said a vote rejecting a 32nd Street route could be useful in persuading KDOT to change its position on the project. But Schauner said a more likely scenario is that a lawsuit will be filed challenging the project and perhaps forcing KDOT to change its route preference.

The final leg of the trafficway project – which is designed to connect Interstate 70 west of Lawrence to Kansas Highway 10 east of Lawrence – has been in dispute for more than a decade. The western half of the road has been built but dead-ends at Iowa Street.

Members of the Federal Highway Administration currently are reviewing an application to build the road along 32nd Street. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already has approved the 32nd Street alignment, which includes creating significant amounts of wetlands to replace those that would be lost to the construction. But if the project wants to tap into federal funding, it also must receive approval from the Federal Highway Administration.

Wendall Meyer, assistant division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, said he doubted a public referendum would sway his office’s decision on the project. Instead, the office is focusing on reviewing the more than 500 comments it received as part of a public comment period earlier this year.

Those comments include a letter from the Lawrence City Commission opposing the 32nd Street route.

County voted in ’90

A countywide vote on the project was held in 1990 when the county sought approval for $4 million in bonds to help pay for the road. The bonds were approved by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin.

To put a new question on the Nov. 7 ballot would require moving fast. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew plans next week to begin printing the 62,000 ballots the county will use for the Nov. 7 election.

He said the most realistic way for the organizers to get the issue on the ballot would be to get the Douglas County Commission to approve sending the measure to a vote. State law doesn’t easily allow such issues to be placed on the ballot via a petition.

Sundell, a supporter of the 32nd Street route, said he and Youngquist had received more than 30 phone calls supporting the idea since the advertisement appeared.

The group, which is named Kansans for Common Sense and Accountability, also proposes putting an issue on the ballot requiring that the Douglas County appraiser cut in half the appraised values of single-family homes owned by people age 65 years or older.

But county officials said such a provision was unlikely because state law, not county law, dictated how properties must be appraised.

Regardless of whether the issues end up on a ballot, Sundell said the political action committee will be active during Lawrence City Commission elections next year.

“If we have people who are on the City or County Commission who vote against letting people vote on an issue, that is a very bad sign to me,” Sundell said.