By Paul Thompson

Northeast News

May 2, 2016

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Kansas City stakeholders and local dignitaries alike wore wide smiles on Thursday, April 28, as the City of Kansas City broke ground on a long-gestating $2.06 million project to improve the intersection at Independence Avenue and Benton Boulevard.

The makeover at the intersection will include a new left turn lane and realignment on Benton Avenue, raised medians to limit pedestrian exposure to traffic at the intersection, upgraded turn signals, new walkways on the north and south sides of the intersection, and additional lighting, landscaping, and signage. There will also be a stone seatwall, custom metal fencing, and a tree well at the northeast corner of the intersection, which will be transformed into a community gathering place.

The improvements at Independence Ave. and Benton Blvd. will conclude the Independence Boulevard Streetscape Improvements project, which originally began back in 1996. Parks and Recreation Director Mark McHenry expressed relief that the project is finally underway.

“It’s about safety and it’s about aesthetics,” said McHenry. “That’s why it’s an important project for us.”

The Independence and Benton improvements will be funded with $1.4 million in funds from the Missouri Department of Transportation, along with roughly $660,000 from PIAC, otherwise known as the Public Improvements Advisory Committee. Plans call for the project to be completed by December of 2016.

3rd District at-large Councilman Quinton Lucas, 3rd District Councilman Jermaine Reed, 1st District Councilman Scott Wagner, and Northeast Chamber of Commerce President Bobbi Baker-Hughes were among those on hand to discuss the importance of the project.

Wagner, who used to live in the Indian Mound neighborhood, spoke about the sense of finality in the air as the Independence Boulevard Streetscape Improvements project is finally on track for completion.

“Back when I was in that neighborhood, this was a project that was high on our list of importance,” said Wagner. “Part of my reason for being here is to have that little bit of closure.”

Baker-Hughes described the community nature of the project, which borders a trio of prominent neighborhoods of the Historic Northeast.

“Today we sit on a corner that is truly a connector in our community,” said Baker-Hughes. “Three neighborhoods converge on this corner: Independence Plaza, Scarritt, and Lykins all converge right here.”

Reed, a former class president at Northeast High School, discussed the Northeast community’s vital role in pushing the project forward through the years.

“This stuff doesn’t just happen overnight; it doesn’t just happen because we want to come out and break ground,” said Reed. “It happens because there are people like yourselves who are working every single day on the front lines to build your community.”