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After years of haranguing about the same problem — those noisy, annoying 18-wheelers rolling up and down Lightburne and Leonard streets — it appears that the city is getting closer than it has ever been to actually taking over a 3.3-mile stretch of Missouri Highway 33.

With two narrow lanes and a lack of infrastructure to support the traffic that roadway handles daily, it is long past time for Liberty to consider making it part of the city’s network of streets. But before the city does that, officials need to weigh all the ramifications. They need to discuss the proposed takeover with not only residents, who want to curtail the heavy truck traffic, but with businesses that rely on the trucks to bring them goods such as at the Hallmark Distribution Center and the former Guy’s plant, where a number of new businesses have located in recent years.

On the surface, right now seems like a good time to take it. The Missouri Department of Transportation is getting ready to mill the roadway in preparation for overlay, a considerable investment. If the city takes that section of Highway 33 later this year, Lightburne and Leonard would be in the best shape they have been in a long time. Those streets, though, need a heck of a lot more than two inches of asphalt. Residents who have been clamoring for the city to take that section of highway must clearly understand that the city does not have an extra $4 million or $5 million to spend on making significant storm drainage improvements nor to rebuild the base of the roadway, especially south of Mill Street. During heavy rains, Lightburne will still look like a river.

And there will still be trucks traveling along there; cars will still speed. The best that can be hoped for is to keep the through truck traffic off of there. Those trucks do have alternative routes to travel on, including Missouri Highway 291, Missouri Highway 210, Interstate 35 and Interstate 435. Most likely what is happening is that the trucks’ GPS systems are indicating that the shortest route is to cut across Lightburne and Leonard to get from U.S. Highway 69 to Highway 291. From the truckers’ standpoint Highway 291 is longer, slower and has too many signal lights.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the trucks are diverted from Lightburne to Highway 291. Right now we don’t even know how many trucks we’re talking about. Police will also have to kick up enforcement to stop the trucks before they get to Lightburne from the north or Leonard from the south. Many other trucks will have legitimate reasons to be on that stretch of roadway.

It is nothing new for the city to accept state highways that bisect the city. Over the last six years, the city has taken over responsibility for a section of Missouri Highway 152 between Clayview Drive and Interstate 35, Missouri Route A north of Highway 291, Glenn Hendren Drive and Stewart Road, both north and south of Kansas Street. The city also plans to take Church Road south of Highway 291. The city currently has about 158 miles of roadway to maintain.

Besides getting more streets to maintain, the city should try to broker the best deal from the state before taking over even more state highways. From MoDOT’s point of view, we can understand why it would be glad to get rid of them.

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