A street project on tonight’s Lawrence City Commission agenda will be a major boon to downtown traffic movement.

City commissioners are being asked to move forward on plans to widen Ninth Street between Tennessee and Kentucky streets to make room for a left-turn lane and bicycle lanes. The new street will have five lanes with a dedicated turning lane for westbound vehicles turning left onto Tennessee and eastbound vehicles turning left onto Kentucky. The improvements will contribute significantly to traffic flow in the area by eliminating the current frequent backups behind vehicles waiting to turn left at those intersections. That not only will make traffic move more quickly but will lessen the possibility of accidents from vehicles making quick lane changes to get around stopped vehicles. It also will extend bicycle lanes to connect to existing lanes west of Tennessee Street.

The estimated cost of the project is $165,000, of which the state will pay 90 percent and the city 10 percent. It’s a good investment that will ease traffic flow and probably reduce accidents at a couple of downtown’s busiest intersections.