City of Lawrence staff propose installing a roundabout, left, or a traffic signal, right, at the intersection of Bob Billings Parkway and the south leg of Inverness Drive.

Street improvements are coming to Bob Billings Parkway in 2016, and city commissioners will be asked Tuesday to recommend the projects that should be completed.

The city budgeted $2.25 million for the section of Bob Billings Parkway from Kasold Drive to Wakarusa Drive and has compiled a list of priorities for construction based off the feedback of residents. Some — but not all– of the priorities can be initiated next year.

“At one of the town hall meetings, we gave people two little orange dots and asked, ‘Where are areas that you consider problem areas?'” said Zach Baker, a project engineer with the Lawrence Public Works Department. “The places with the (highest) concentration of dots — these are the areas we want to address first.”

A memorandum from city engineers said Bob Billings Parkway is classified as a principal arterial street, and it sees 6,500 to 15,500 vehicles each day.

The volume of traffic is expected to increase with the upcoming opening of the Kansas Highway 10 interchange.

According to the latest information from the Kansas Department of Transportation, the interchange is scheduled to open to traffic on Dec. 18.

“When the interchange goes in, likely there will be more traffic along Bob Billings,” Baker said. “There are concerns about speeding going through that corridor and maybe not having any left-turn lanes. It just makes sense to address those issues.”

After meeting with neighborhood groups to talk about residents’ priorities, city staff compiled a list of issues to explore in detail.

Recommendations from the public included the need for traffic signals or roundabouts and left-turn lanes. Residents also voiced concerns with sight distance at several intersections.

City staff are recommending to the City Commission seven options for improvements.

The recommendations are:

• A $1 million mill and overlay project from Kasold Drive to Wakarusa Drive that would include restriping the lanes between Kasold and Crossgate Drive to create a center turn lane.

• Constructing a right-turn lane near the intersection of Bob Billings Parkway and Kasold Drive for $75,000.

• Improving sight distance at the intersection of St. Andrews Drive at an estimated cost of $30,000.

• Installing a traffic signal at the intersection of Bob Billings Parkway and Stone Meadows Drive for $300,000.

• Installing a traffic signal or roundabout at the intersection of Bob Billings Parkway and the south leg of Inverness Drive. The cost is estimated at $360,000 for the installation of a traffic signal and $600,000 for a roundabout.

• Constructing a pedestrian hybrid beacon and crosswalk east of Bobwhite Drive for $80,000. An alternate option is installing a traffic signal with an estimated cost of $350,000.

• Constructing a 6-foot sidewalk on the south side of Bob Billings Parkway from Monterey Way to Inverness Drive at an estimated cost of $220,000.

Warren Corman, president of the Quail Pointe at Alvamar neighborhood group, said he was pleased the city had recommended a traffic signal for the Stone Meadows Drive intersection.

“The biggest thing we were worried about here at Quail Point, we have real trouble getting out of the main entrance,” Corman said. “The hill comes in from both ways, and if people are driving 40 mph, we have about four seconds before they come over the hill and we see them. That’s been a real problem.”

City staff received four emails from residents near the Bobwhite Drive intersection who have asked that a traffic signal be installed there, too.

According to city engineers’ memo, Bobwhite Drive does not meet any of the warrants for consideration of a traffic signal. Neighbors “strongly favored the roundabout option,” the memo states, but there is not enough right-of-way to construct one.

City staff recommended the pedestrian hybrid beacon for the intersection. The memo states the area should also be monitored periodically and that a traffic signal be installed when it’s needed.

Nancy Harper, a resident of the neighborhood, wrote an email asking for a traffic signal at the intersection. She explained the difficulty of turning onto Bob Billings Parkway and said she believed it would worsen with the opening of the new interchange.

Another area resident, Dianne Schwartz, had similar concerns.

“I anticipate that turning left into my neighborhood at peak traffic hours will become hazardous at the Bobwhite intersection,” Schwartz wrote.

Baker said none of the city’s recommendations were “set in stone.”

“Up to this point, it’s been reconnaissance — getting ideas from the public, putting out what we think the most viable options are and letting them pick which ones they want to see,” Baker said.

Commissioners will recommend which improvements should be pursued.

After the meeting, city staff will send a solicitation to engineering firms for the design of the projects. The design process is expected to start this winter, with plans prepared for construction in summer 2016.

Final design plans will be brought back to the commission for approval.

Commissioners meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.