Bella Vistans got a better look at a proposed expansion of Mercy Way during a meeting Monday, Aug. 12.
The proposed project includes a widening of the road, including the bridge across Little Sugar Creek, as well as an expansion of the Razorback Greenway across the bridge, including dedicated pedestrian and cycling lanes.
This project is estimated to cost roughly $5 million, 80 percent of which is to be covered by a federal grant that was awarded in 2015. The city council agreed to apply for an additional grant in May that could provide as much as $500,000 toward the pedestrian and bike portions of the project, which city staff said represents approximately $1.4 million of the project, with the remainder covering the construction, acquisition and design.
"We're still exploring some of the funds options," Mayor Peter Christie explained.
Steven Beam, business manager with Burns McDonnell, the engineering firm handling the project's design, said that most of the community's comments on the project were positive.
The expansion design widens the road to four lanes, with two in each direction, with no dedicated turn lane. The greenway extension that's involved with it will go under the bridge and loop around to go behind Sugar Creek Center.
Another major change, he said, will be a hard right turn from Mercy Way onto U.S. Highway 71's northbound lane. The existing turn is fairly dangerous, he said, with drivers looking back over their shoulders for oncoming traffic.
Community Development Services director Doug Tapp said that the design is mostly finished, but to be able to finish the project the city will need to purchase some small pieces of land from Cooper and the lot occupied by CVS.
It could be an important project for the city to get ahead of its own growth, he said. The population will almost certainly continue to grow, he said, and people will continue going to Blowing Springs, Cooper Elementary and the clinic alongside Mercy Way.
"The traffic on that bridge is never going down," he said.
James and Julie Anderson were among the people attending the open air meeting to examine this proposed plan.
James Anderson said that, particularly with school traffic, the expansion could be helpful.
"I think it'd be great to have extra lanes there," he said.
Julie Anderson said she was interested in the project but she'd like to see a few small tweaks to the plan, like a dedicated left turn lane into Sugar Creek Center and the gas station.
Ryan Castor, senior civil engineer with Burns McDonnell, said the meeting was a great chance to get some feedback that could help in the final project design.
"We have a good product on paper, now we have to go back and look at a few details," he said.
General News on 08/21/2019