01-04-2025
Parkville moving forward with project to improve Highway 9
PARKVILLE, Mo. – The city of Parkville is moving forward with a project to improve safety and traffic flow downtown.
A map for the project shows the work will start at the entrance to Park University and go west to 4th Street and from the downtown triangle along 1st Street to Mill Street and west to S. Crooked Road.
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'When you think of charming Parkville, you're really thinking of downtown. It's prospering and we want to keep it that way, but it has challenges with the road coming right through,' said Parkville Mayor Dean Katerndahl.
The Redefine Route 9 project aims to boost safety for pedestrians and drivers by improving sidewalks and crosswalks and fixing problem areas like the existing triangle entry to downtown.
'We want a better, more friendly, safer pedestrian downtown. We want to support the businesses and enhance them. This area is also an event space downtown. People gather here. The third thing is better traffic flow in and through the downtown,' Katerndahl explained. 'So we're trying to deal with all those issues at one time. This is a good opportunity because of the Highway 9 project.'
Public survey responses showed that people are most excited about increasing safety, improving pedestrian mobility and improving visibility and traffic flow. The survey shows the most significant concerns were changing the character of downtown Parkville and trying to do too much in a constricted area.
'I don't live here, so I don't have to deal with it every day. But it's a beautiful city, and if you turn it into a parking lot, and just worry about cars, you're not really worrying about the people, and the people want to see the beauty of this cool old town,' said Parkville visitor Timothy Roush.
At a public meeting on March 10, six design concepts were presented. Three designs included taking out the historic power plant building.
'So three of the options would take out that building and maybe build a smaller building next door to allow the highway to go south right next to the tracks and go all the way through downtown. So the VFW members members were quite upset,' Katerndahl said. 'But that's only some of the options. So we're spending the next two months until June getting feedback.'
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During the March 10 public meeting, the Parkville VFW Post Commander said they understand the need for improved traffic flow but advocated for the building they just purchased in November to avoid demolition.
'As a non-profit that lives off donations and community service, that's a hard pill to swallow. We are here to support the community like we always have, but some consideration needs to be added into that as well,' the post commander said in part during the public meeting.
Another public hearing will take place in early-mid June.
You can view the design concepts and provide feedback by visiting here.
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