By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
April 27, 2011

Nearly 18,000 vehicles travel daily down Chouteau Trafficway.

Congestion is an issue, and according to state statistics, Chouteau’s average accident rate is 300 percent higher than the state’s average for similar roadways.

Soon, that will change.

City officials and area residents gathered at a former car dealership on Chouteau April 20 for the construction kick-off of Chouteau Parkway.

The project will transform the two-lane trafficway into a four-lane parkway from Highway 210 to Interstate 35. Other features of the project will include a five-foot bicycle lane in each direction, storm water drainage, sidewalks, green space, rain gardens and other landscaping.

“We wanted more than a road to take you from point ‘a’ to point ‘b.’ We wanted a real parkway for the Northland,” City of Kansas City Council member Deb Hermann told attendees at the construction kick-off.

“This thing has been around a long time and for awhile, I never thought I’d see it completed,” City of Kansas City Council member Bill Skaggs said. “Here we are today to start our demolition.”

The concept for Chouteau Parkway has been around since the 1980s, said Sean Demory, a spokesperson for the city’s Capital Projects Department.

In 1992, Kansas City selected an engineering firm to design the parkway. Nearly 20 years later, the plan is coming to fruition.

The city has finished its right-of-way acquisition of 32 properties along Chouteau and bids for demolition were opened Tuesday after Northeast News‘ press deadline. Demory said the demolition phase will last 60 to 90 days followed by environmental remediation. Construction will begin in the spring of 2012.

Above: City officials gather with golden hammers April 20 to “demolish” the first building along Chouteau in celebration of the Chouteau Parkway construction kick-off. Leslie Collins