Lawrence City Hall is pictured in this file photo.

West Lawrence’s Wakarusa Drive is set to get yet another roundabout.

Lawrence City commissioners at their Tuesday meeting are expected to approve the design for a $7.6 million project to reconstruct a portion of Wakarusa Drive and add a roundabout at its intersection with 18th Street.

City engineers in recent years have favored roundabouts rather than traffic lights for several intersections along the busy west Lawrence street, including at Legends Drive and Harvard Road.

In a memo to commissioners, the city’s engineering staff said it considered recommending a traffic signal at the intersection instead of a roundabout, but said a roundabout is predicted to reduce crash numbers at the 18th Street and Wakarusa Drive intersection more than a traffic signal.

Engineers estimate a roundabout will reduce severe crashes at the intersection by 59% compared to 47% reduction with a traffic signal. The roundabout, however, is expected to cost $450,000 to $600,000 more to construct than a traffic signal, but maintenance costs of a roundabout are expected to be lower.

Engineers also said that a public meeting that attracted 23 residents and businesses from along the Wakarusa Drive corridor “overwhelmingly” favored a roundabout over a traffic signal.

Plans for the project also call for several new turn lanes, which also are expected to reduce injury accidents on the street. Engineers are calling for the construction of dual, southbound left-turn lanes on Wakarusa Drive at Clinton Parkway. Plans also call for new north and southbound turn lanes on Wakarusa Drive at the intersection of Wakarusa Drive and Turnberry Drive and at Wakarusa Drive and Brandon Woods Terrace/Research Park Way.

The project also will add 10-foot shared use paths on both sides of Wakarusa Drive. Engineers had considered adding only one 10-foot shared use path, while having a narrower, standard sidewalk on the other side of the street. The dual shared use paths are estimated to increase the cost of the project by about $400,000 versus a single shared-use path and a standard sidewalk. A memo to commissioners said a majority of people in attendance at the public meeting supported the less expensive single shared use path, but engineers are recommending the dual shared-use paths to accommodate the volume of bike and pedestrian traffic expected in the corridor.

The entire project will stretch from Research Park Way to Clinton Parkway, and will include the replacement of all existing street pavement with a new concrete surface. The street was built in 1987 and is starting to deteriorate, engineers said in their memo.

If city commissioners approve the design, engineers believe construction could start in late summer.