3 days ago
Sunshine Corridor study on display at town hall
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Springfield residents will get a first look at some results of a months-long corridor study of Sunshine, from Glenstone out west to Kansas Expressway.
The study carries a price tag of $702,000, but around $217,000 of that comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, and $485,000 of the effort is funded by the city's 1/4-cent capital improvement sales tax.
The study revealed five goals of the project overall: Engagement, Safety, Revitalization, Place, and trying to balance the needs of those in the community, like drivers, businesses and those who live nearby.
Ozarks First drove to several businesses along Sunshine Street, asking what some owners want to see done with the project.
Levi Grant, owner of The Big Slice Pizza, which has been on Sunshine for nearly 12 years, says safety is the biggest issue.
'There's constantly wrecks outside. Obviously, there's a lot of traffic down there. People drive down the middle or around middle lane, often we see traffic back up, back past us quite a bit from Glenstone, actually. You know, it goes both directions,' Grant said. 'It's nearly impossible to go left, out of the parking lot. You have to usually have to wait it out a good couple of minutes or I go right along and go down Delaware and turn around.'
His suggestion would be to better time traffic lights to reduce traffic.
'I'd say try to get, let's get lights synced up could help a bit drastically here. There's not a whole lot they could do about widening everything just because we don't have a whole lot of room here. It's just going to have to sync everything together to make everything change at the same time,' Grant said. '[The project] will probably have its ups and downs. Every time they do construction site on the side, it will dramatically affect [businesses here], and you can't even get into a lot of these businesses when they shut down the lanes that would resurface and stuff like that.'
On the west side of Sunshine, Kyndall Martin with Sunshine Lanes also says safety is the biggest issue.
'The traffic down at this Kansas/Sunshine intersection; it's brutal. I'd like to say most of it's probably just bad drivers. I hate to say that, but there's countless wrecks. I leave here all the time, and there's always some sort of wreck,' Martin said. 'I feel like when going down sunshine, people don't pay attention. Traffic's always backed up and then you start heading farther east towards like the hospitals and Mercy and all the way down to like Glenstone, you know, it's all backed up, but I think Sunshine is one of the most iconic streets in town personally, and I think there's a lot of good that come with trying to make Sunshine better.'
He suggests the city not only improve the roadway, but also invest in local options for stores or food.
'I think the cornerstone is getting local people and bringing local businesses. I mean, everybody loves it. You know, Buffalo Wild Wings or, you know, P.F. Chang's as big, cool places. They want to see them in town, but some of the best places in town personally are the local places,' Martin said. 'If we're trying to revitalize some of these areas that are starting to get a little rundown to encourage somehow small businesses in Springfield to fill those spaces.'
The final plans are expected to be announced by early 2026.
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