Residents of Berg Acres subdivision at the southern edge of Lawrence will lose their two exits onto U.S. Highway 59 and won’t get an additional access point until someone decides to develop some nearby property.

Douglas County commissioners have declined the state’s offer to spend $294,000 to extend East 1326 Road south to County Road 458.

The road eventually will be extended, but not until a developer decides to build something at the northwest corner of a new interchange at County Road 458 and the new U.S. 59, said Keith Browning, the county’s engineer and director of public works.

The developer will be responsible for financing the extension of the road that runs along the east side of Berg Acres, he said. The land owner doesn’t want a road cutting through a family farm.

“There will be another connection through there,” Browning said. “It just won’t be right now.”

The subdivision, with more than 50 homes, now has two direct access points onto U.S. 59: North 1056 and North 1082 roads. Both will be closed with the opening of the new U.S. 59, a limited-access freeway designed to improve driver safety by eliminating such “at-grade” intersections between Lawrence and Ottawa.

That will require Berg Acres residents to use the neighborhood’s only remaining access: on East 1326, then north to North 1100 Road.

That single outlet allows residents to go west to U.S. 59 or east, then south, to County Road 458. But such a limitation for an entire subdivision worries at least one longtime resident.

“For fire protection and everything else, I think a second way out is absolutely necessary,” said Zee Button, who has lived in Berg Acres for 32 years. “I think it’ll be a dangerous situation for us. I think we need to have that (road extension) open. We should have a second way out of there.”

While a second access would be preferred, Browning said, it is not required. The intersection at North 1100 Road is not in a restrictive floodplain.