There may be other Lawrence neighborhoods that would like to have the opportunity that residents of the University Place Neighborhood now have to revisit their decision to support various traffic-calming structures.

In 2004, the city, at the request of residents living just south of the Kansas University campus, approved installation of several temporary traffic-calming circles on 17th and 18th streets. Now, after 12 years on a waiting list, permanent replacements for two of those temporary circles have been approved for funding by city officials.

Before construction can begin, however, the city must have the approval of 70 percent of residents living within 300 feet of the intersections in question. Although there likely are people who will support the permanent circles, a number of neighborhood residents already have asked commissioners to simply remove the temporary traffic circles rather than replacing them with permanent structures.

The circles, they say, are unsightly and create dangerous confusion for drivers. Unlike a roundabout where vehicles turning left must go to the right and travel counterclockwise around the circle, it’s legal at the traffic-calming structures to simply cut directly in front of the circle to make a left turn. That can be confusing to drivers not familiar with the patterns. The circles apparently are having at least some desired effect of slowing traffic on 17th and 18th streets, but a number of residents don’t think their benefits outweigh their drawbacks.

It’s nice that these residents have another opportunity to consider whether the traffic-calming circles are a positive addition to their neighborhood and whether it would be better to get rid of them, replace them with similar permanent structures or perhaps even replace them with larger traffic roundabouts. Having lived with the temporary structures for more than a decade, they have some experience that may have altered their perspective. The same may be true in some neighborhoods where permanent traffic circles and roundabouts proliferated about a decade ago, but once permanent structures are in place, it’s much harder to make a change. Regardless of what happens in University Place, it’s nice they have a chance to take another look at the circles before they’re literally cast in concrete.