Northern half of Grant Avenue Parkway reopens to two-way traffic, signaling near completion

Roughly a year after its expected completion, the city of Springfield announced yesterday that the Grant Avenue Parkway route reopened to two-way traffic between Grand and Walnut streets.

The announcement said the project is expected to reach substantial completion by the end of this year.

The city received a $21 million grant for the roadway improvement and streetscape project in November 2019, and construction began in May 2022. The funding was in the form of a transportation discretionary grant, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s program called Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development, or BUILD.

Springfield Public Works Director Dan Smith said the project is coming in within the project budget of $31 million, with a local match comprised of $4 million from City Utilities of Springfield and $6 million from the city’s quarter-cent capital improvement tax and eighth-cent transportation sales tax.

Back in 2022, city officials said construction on the route that extends from Sunshine Street to downtown Springfield was expected to be completed in 2024.

Leree Reese, the city’s project manager and a transportation engineer, said the project was challenging, with two chief sources of delay: the process of undergrounding utilities along the 3-mile route and the related difficulty of obtaining right-of-way acquisition for some 100 separate parcels.

Right-of-way acquisition normally happens before construction begins, Reese said, marking a big difference with how the city had to approach the Grant Avenue Parkway project.

“We didn’t really have a choice,” Reese said. “I would not recommend doing that again if we had a choice.”

Reese said the chief difficulty in acquiring right of way was not the negotiation process, but it was primarily the difficulty in contacting property owners, many of who live outside the region. This made it challenging just to get paperwork signed, she said.

Reese said undergrounding utilities was something new for the city, as she explained that underground utilities have to be in place before above-ground lines can be removed. The ability to install the underground utilities was dependent upon obtaining right-of-way easements from property owners, she said.

Adding to the complication was the fact that several utility companies had to be involved, including City Utilities of Springfield, AT&T, Mediacom, Brightspeed and SpringNet.

Kristen Milam, communication coordinator for the city of Springfield, said the project was always intended to serve as a catalyst for development, and that takes time.

“We’re just starting,” she said.

The city has said the project goal is to “strengthens connections between community anchors including Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium, downtown, area parks, neighborhoods and schools, while filling a vital gap in the Ozark Greenways trail network.”

Smith said there has already been $40 million in private investment along the parkway. Some notable examples are the Wayfarer in the Glade and Wayfarer in the Dale apartment complexes on the route and The Knoll apartment complex and the Risdal Family Teen Center, serving teenagers after school, just off the parkway.

Design-build approach

Smith said the timeline to get under contract to take advantage of the grant funding was very short.

“It was clear the normal approach would not work,” he said.

Thus, the city went with the design-build approach, which meant most aspects of the project happened simultaneously. Normally, he said, design work would be done up front, with right-of-way acquisition following before construction.

That type of work happens in the background, he said.

“It’s not seen by the public, and it takes time – especially when you’ve got 100 parcels,” he said.

That means quite a bit of work can be happening outside of the public’s view.

The design-build process approaches construction differently, with the work construed as one large project with multiple firms working together. Announced in August 2021, the GAP Collaborative Team, with Pleasant Hill-based Radmacher Brothers Excavating Co. serving as lead construction contractor, also included Springfield-based Cook, Flatt and Strobel Engineers Inc. and Kansas City-based Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects LLC. Additionally, VSM Engineering LLC of Kansas City coordinated utilities and storm drainage design services; Custom Engineering Design Co. Inc. handled electrical engineering services; and Shockey Consulting Services LLC of Kirkwood handled planning and public engagement.

Smith said the city has learned a lot through the Grant Avenue Parkway project, mostly through the pilot project of burying utilities.

“The grant gave us the opportunity to do that,” he said, though he noted it added complexity to the project. “Looking forward, as we look at larger projects, this will be part of the discussion.”

Smith said what the city learned will be important to future work.

“We got great ideas about things that worked and other alternatives as well,” he said.

Those alternatives could include moving above-ground utility lines to alleys to leave corridors uncluttered – a cheaper way to achieve that goal, he said.

Reese said undergrounding utilities reduces the chance for outages from wind, ice or car accidents, and there are above-ground access points, like vaults and junction boxes, where work on the lines can occur.

Milam said while the reopening to two-way traffic signals completion of construction, there is more work to do.

“In the new year, we’ll be working with stakeholders on final finishes,” she said, citing branding, wayfinding, signage and public artwork. Additionally, she said, cleanup work will continue through the spring, after which a formal dedication will be held.