To the editor:

Just for a moment let’s leave aside the rights and wrongs of siting the South Lawrence Trafficway and look at the big picture from a pure planning perspective. Here’s how it looks to me.

1. Whether we need it now or not, Lawrence is going to need a major south and east arterial at some point.

2. Because of rising land costs, it’s better for the community to build it sooner rather than later.

3. Moreover, it’s better to build sooner with an imperfect transportation route than later with a perfect route.

4. Opponents of the wetlands route are not going to compromise on the route, because they don’t agree that we need the road at all.

5. If proponents of the road backed off from perfection and accepted an imperfect route south of the Wakarusa, it would probably get built a lot sooner.

Now getting back to rights and wrongs, it may not be fair to put the burden of compromise on the proponents, but that’s how the cards lie. That raises the question of why the proponents won’t compromise. Is it possible that they care more about winning battles or protecting real estate speculations than they do about closing the deal?

David Burress,
Lawrence