A new plan mapping out the future for U.S. Highway 56 in Douglas and Johnson counties calls for some additional lanes, realigned intersections and access limits.

But not until the need arises.

“For the most part, what is a rural two-lane highway now will remain a rural two-lane highway through 2040,” said Jeff McKerrow, a consultant with TranSystems Corp., which compiled the U.S. 56 Corridor Management Plan.

The plan — a cooperative effort piloted by eight governments and agencies, including Douglas County, Baldwin City and Kansas Department of Transportation — is designed to guide decisions about changes to and along a 22-mile stretch of U.S. 56, from U.S. 59 south of Lawrence to Interstate 35 near Gardner.

Now the participating partners are being asked to approve a cooperative agreement to put the $457,000 plan into use. Wednesday night, Douglas County commissioners heard from McKerrow and others about the recommendations in the plan, including a call for additional highway lanes on both sides of Baldwin City.

While Baldwin City leaders already have approved the cooperative agreement, county commissioners plan to wait until next week so that they can consider potential implications.

Nancy Thellman, commission chairwoman, lauded the effort’s authors and participants, describing the plan as accessible, understandable, logical and friendly. Commissioner Mike Gaughan liked that the plan made “some fairly difficult concepts very easy to understand.”

Commissioner Jim Flory also offered support for the plan, noting that its recommendations would guide future decisions, not mandate them.

“It’s not controlling,” he said, “but it’s certainly something that we need to take into account.”

The plan gives property owners, developers and others something to refer to and rely on when making future land-use decisions, said Keith Browning, the county’s director of public works. In Baldwin City, for example, the plan envisions:

• Eisenhower Street being realigned at U.S. 56 to connect with Third Street.

• High Street would be realigned at U.S. 56 to connect with a new arterial street, one that would be built sometime in the future. The intersection would get a traffic signal.

• An existing access point for an industrial area at the eastern edge of town would be replaced by a new, larger entry and exit. The highway also would have four lanes there, instead of the current two.

None of the changes would occur, though, unless and until developments, redevelopments, safety concerns or other changes surfaced that might prompt such changes.

“This helps us plan,” Browning said.