Michael Bushnell
Publisher

Last night, May 16,  was the first of three planned public engagement sessions for the Indian Mound neighborhood portion of the St. John Traffic Calming plan. Residents along the St. John corridor between Elmwood Avenue and Belmont Blvd. made notes and suggestions on the two large maps provided by the Indian Mound neighborhood showing the entire corridor with key intersections highlighted for improvements.

Rick Jones, a long time resident who lives near St. John and Van Brunt, lobbied heavily for the replacement of the stop light that once operated there and was removed in 2012 by the city, citing a traffic study that showed it wasn’t necessary at the time.  “The city says it will cost over a million dollars to re-install a light there,” Jones said. “How is that even possible?” he questioned.

Bobby Evans, a planner with the city’s Public Works Department was pleased with the interaction. “Every time we do this we wind up with a better design,” Evans said. “We’re having vigorous conversations right now and that’s going to wind up making this whole thing better and that’s the whole point.”

Indian Mound resident Amanda Wilson was pleased as well. “We’re just really excited to see the project come to fruition,” Wilson said. “This is the first project like this in Indian Mound for such a long stretch of street that gives us the opportunity to partner with the Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood on their portion of St. John.” Wilson was instrumental in submitting the PIAC (Public Improvements Advisory Committee) request for funding of the project in 2019.

The Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association is also requesting $500,000 from PIAC later this year in order to implement similar calming measures along St. John between Elmwood Ave. and Benton Blvd., Scarritt’s eastern and western boundaries. That effort will be focused on five key intersections, those being, from east to west, Kensington, Jackson, Monroe, Askew and Indiana.

Another engagement session will be held at Healing House, located at 4505 St. John tomorrow, Saturday, May 18th from 2-3:30pm. Evans also noted that a third engagement session for Spanish speakers would be scheduled at a later date. 

For additional information on the proposed improvements and traffic maps produced by the Indian Mound Neighborhood, click this link to our previous story: https://northeastnews.net/pages/traffic-calming-measures-slated-for-st-john-ave/

Additional information on the corridor study as a whole can be found here: https://www.kcmo.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/211/1750?fsiteid=1&npage=3#!/.

Additional history and background on planning measures along St. John, the 2005 St. John Corridor Infrastructure and Land Use plan can be reviewed here: https://www.kcmo.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/1423/636958607075030000.The Truman Plaza Area Plan, implemented in 2012 also makes recommendations to the St. John corridor. That plan can be found here: https://www.kcmo.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/10618/638200071203100000.