12-03-2025
Status report given on Joplin street, trail projects
The first phase of Zora Street widening and roundabout construction has been completed, and the roundabout opened to traffic last month.
Joplin city staff provided an update on projects that are planned or underway using funding from the Capital Improvements Sales Tax during a City Council work session Monday.
Street improvements are being done in that area because traffic from Missouri 249 to north Joplin and Webb City, including the Joplin-Webb City Industrial Park north of Zora Street, will carry more traffic in the future including heavy trucks going to the industrial park.
There are two more phases of the work to streets in that area.
The city will advertise for bids to build Phase 2 in the spring, Johnson said. That phase will improve Zora and add paved shoulders from Duquesne Road to Missouri 249. The final phase, Phase 3, will widen a portion of Zora from Range Line Road to Duquesne, adding curbs, gutters and a storm sewer system.
The project is expected to cost about $9 million.
Utility relocations are being done now in the area of 20th Street west of Schifferdecker Avenue in preparation for a planned widening of 20th Street from Schifferdecker to Central City Road. Construction is to begin this spring. The cost is placed at more than $9.87 million.
Design work is underway for the removal of the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge from Fifth to Seventh streets. The bridge was closed in 2019 after state inspectors found it unsafe for vehicle traffic and pedestrians. A request for bids for the demolition is to be advertised in summer for the start of removal in the fall.
Johnson said public meetings will be held to determine whether a street should be built there or use it for some other infrastructure.
The design phase is slated to cost $4.8 million.
Reconstruction and beautification of the intersection area at Fourth Street and Murphy Boulevard are going well, Johnson said. The intersection is open to traffic, but four-way stops are still in place. Permanent pavement markings will be added and landscaping and other decorative elements will be completed soon. The intersection will remain a four-way stop while work continues in the area.
Upon completion, the intersection will have new traffic signals, turn lanes and sidewalks to allow for pedestrian safety and access to the trail in Landreth Park. Stormwater work is also part of the project. The cost is $1.99 million.
Also planned this year is work at 15th Street and Range Line. Johnson said construction work will start in a couple of months both at the intersection and to build in a formal 15th Street east of the intersection and improve accesses to the shopping in that area. The project will cost about $1.5 million.
Streetscaping along Main Street from 10th to 15th streets is planned. A public meeting will be held to discuss design plans for the area. The project will be bid out during the summer. Construction would begin in the fall, Johnson said. Design work is budgeted at $6 million.
Construction of the Tin Cup Trail south of 32nd Street and St. John's Boulevard is ongoing and should wrap up in late spring, Johnson said. Also under construction is the Tin Cup Bridge to connect users to the trail behind the Joplin Family Y. Those come at a cost of more than $1.6 million each.
Design for the Grand Falls Trail to connect to McIndoe Park and the Grand Falls area also is to be done this year at a cost of $1.3 million.
Also planned is the contract to design the replacement of the Sixth Street parking garage on Sixth Street and Virginia Avenue. That phase will cost $4 million.
