Well amazing what a six month hiatus does to average daily page views......
Let me just say it's been one heck of a six months. You wouldn't believe anything I would tell you about it other than as of two weeks ago, I am no longer with KCMO so now I can officially take off the muzzle and contribute as a 100% private citizen.
Now keep in mind being a private citizen and taxpayer first while working in government was a major factor in my effectiveness because I ignored a lot of time wasting meetings, "no-value added" red tape, and make work processes that some people thrive on following and miss the forest from the trees. If you're in government, just remember it takes a lot of effort to fire you so do what you need to do and work for the citizens. It's kind of fun figuring out ways around the roadblocks. Before I digress more and before I get started on the post just a little reminder that your elected officials are under a lot of stress and you should be praying for them as they handle all of this mayhem. What a weird and stressful time.
We are almost at the point of no return on a new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge. On Wednesday the KCMO Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hear Ordinance 200222 which authorizes a funding agreement between KCMO and MoDOT and will be the final piece in the financing puzzle. You can go to the ordinance website and download the PowerPoint presentation or you can watch the video below that I converted from a PPT to a 1:45 video file that's easier to absorb then downloading, finding it, and clicking through it.
In case you have forgotten, we are four years into federally required environmental planning that must be undertaken before a new bridge moves into design and construction. Last August I did a post on the US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge alternatives that were being considered. Sidetracking here but a lot of you responded (I think it was over 1700 comments) and there was a zip code map created which showed a lot of turnout from 64151 and areas all over the metro so you taking the time to participate really did help move the conversation and get us to where I think we need to be.
Over the winter those alternatives have been refined based on comments and other considerations and the Environmental Assessment (EA) is almost complete and there is a "preferred alternative" which has been released for public comment. I highlighted "preferred alternative" because that's the federal process buzzword and it is important to note that this project will be a "design-build" project where the designer and builder will be teamed together and submit a bid on the project with a design and a price. You can watch this 9+ minute US DOT video on the process if you get bored (or it rains tomorrow and you've got nothing to do outside). There's a chance that someone (hopefully) comes up with a better final design than the preferred alternative so what gets built won't look exactly like what is being shown.
Also, there's no rendering or detail on what the new bridge will look like because that's up to the design-build team to figure out. Well you might be asking how do we know we are getting what we were promised? That's a perfectly legitimate question. What the EA does have are commitments for the project which are listed below. You'll note commitment B-3 because that's what a lot of you noted in your August comments as being important to the project. All of these items will need to be done by the design-build team in order to be a responsive and eligible bidder.
Here is an overview of where we are in the project schedule from the public hearing displays presented on March 10th.
Here is recap of the study area. Don't freak out about the study extending all the way up to the MO 9 interchange. These federal studies have to have a ending point at an intersection or another highway. Nothing is going to be done to the section between Briarcliff and the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (CWBDA in acronym world).
Here's the expensive West Alternative.
Here's the central and preferred alternative.
And lastly here is the adjacent alternative which costs just the same as the central but is more impactful to properties, the urban fabric, and more structure to maintain.
The north end of the CWBDA er Downtown Airport will get an improvement for ingress/egress and since there's not much room to manuever will probably look exactly like this. It will get a new southbound on-ramp to replace one removed at the bridge today. This will cut down on some of you "cutters" who make everything worse by creating the a double merge delay on the bridge today. It would have been a little clearer to label the new, relocated, and improved ramps.
The left exits at the bridge will go away and people will only be able to get off when going northbound from the new bridge to get to the Airport. The existing ramps halfway up the outer road will be upgraded with some more acceleration/deceleration distance. Wasn't much that could be done here because there's always concern in this town with losing one parking space even if it solves world peace. I mean seriously what is it with this town and parking? I parked for free downtown for 10 years yet all I hear is people saying it's a pain in the rear to park downtown. Of course I walked four tenths of a mile one way but it saved me $70/month and allowed me to lavishly partake in a steady fast food and pizza diet. I know you aren't afraid of walking because I see a lot of you doing it more and more lately.........
Also in retrospect it might have been better to do the outer road pavement in a different color to differentiate it and make it easier to see but when these were being developed I kind of had my attention on other things.
Lastly since it's an environmental document, here's all of the environmental issues and items mapped with the preferred alternative overlaid on them. It's kind of like a game of operation. Squeeze the improvements in without touching anything that will make US DOT buzz.
The alternatives were evaluated using a matrix and which graphically summarizes how a lot of the discussion and analysis in the document.
Also below are the draft project goals and draft design-build procurement schedule.
Now all of this is contingent on the city/state funding ordinance passing out of committee this week. Since City Hall is closed to visitors, it's actually rather easy to share your opinion on the matter. Just put Ordinance 200222 in the subject and send an email to [email protected] and keep it short and sweet unless you want to add "the folks in the City Clerk's office are underappreciated and underpaid and Council should realize how much they make Council's job easier and pay them more because they are some of the funnest people to work with in City Hall."
Here is the official notice from the meeting agenda on how to watch and participate.
Due to the State of Emergency declared for the City of Kansas, with the ban on gatherings of more than 10 people, we are asking residents to watch the meetings online and submit public comments by email.
Those who wish to comment on proposed ordinances can email written testimony to [email protected]. Comments received during the ordinance discussion will be read aloud by the City Clerk during the public comment period. Comments received after the ordinance discussion will be added to the public record by the Clerk.
The city provides several ways for residents to watch City Council meetings:
• Livestream on the city’s website at www.kcmo.gov
• Livestream on the city’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYYgwhGr1HSqRi_h5uPF2Kg
• Watch Channel 2 on your cable system. The channel is available through Time Warner Cable (channel 2 or 98.2), AT&T U-verse (channel 99 then select Kansas City) and Google Fiber on Channel 142.
• To watch archived meetings, visit the City Clerk’s website and look in the Video on Demand section: http://kansascity.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2
Since the pictures above might be a little hard to see, here is a slightly zoomed in view of the preferred alternative so you can see the text.
Here is MoDOT's project webpage for the new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge where you can follow along. Also you need to follow their YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts to stay in the loop. The people who produce content for MoDOT spend a lot of time and effort putting this information out there and so they want you to be as informed as possible because there's nothing more annoying than someone when construction starts or gets finished dropping the old "I didn't know ANYTHING about this." Don't be that person.
Just so you know a post like this takes about two hours to work up which I usually use to watch cartoons with toddlers so we'll see how the Line Creek Loudmouth evolves going forward. Feel free to give me some feedback on what you think I should focus on. Check out all the category tags on the right side of the website and let me know what you find interesting. I'd appreciate positive feedback because I am fully aware that I am a balding head stooge and make almost everything up even though I couldn't make up half the stuff I do even if I tried............
Also if this is your first foray into the new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge, you can read all my past posts by clicking on the subject tag here and get caught up on everything I had time to share.