Sprucing up Springfield's 'front door'

The proposed north-south connector will carry traffic to Highway EE, where those venturing eastward into town will get a glimpse of the Queen City’s less photogenic side.

The highway quickly becomes West Division Street, a narrow road lined by auto repair shops, gas stations and older homes. Farther into town, Division curves sharply and then passes between a railroad switchyard and feed mill.

The airport access road will eventually connect to West Chestnut Expressway, offering a more convenient – albeit similarly drab – route into Springfield.

At least one person in town isn’t too fond of that plan.

“I was shocked at the route that’s being used,” said hotelier John Q. Hammons. “It’s going to take several years for that to be improved as good as Kearney (Street) is, and Kearney hasn’t won any awards either.”

Making a good first impression on visitors – especially those looking to expand their businesses in Springfield – is “critical,” said Greg Williams, senior vice president of economic development at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce. As passenger traffic at the airport continues to grow, more people will enter Springfield via the city’s northwest corner, he added.

“That is the most ignored sector of the city and has been for 50 years,” Williams said. “But it’s no longer way out there.”

Private push

City officials said they’re well aware of the need to enhance the entryway — a process that will rely largely on private developers turning their attention to northwest Springfield.

“The way development is going to occur out there, we’re going to see some potential for higher-type developments,” said Public Works Director Marc Thornsberry. “Those are going to be opportunities to spruce up that front door.”

City and chamber officials point to activity at the Partnership Industrial Center West, a jointly owned 410-acre industrial park just east of the airport, and along West Bypass. Farther south at West Bypass and Chestnut Expressway is Chestnut Crossing, a 37-acre development whose first two tenants are Liberty Bank and KFC. Other restaurants are expected.

Until recently, new development in northwest Springfield was scarce.

Industrially zoned property immediately east of the airport is separated from residential areas by ribbons of commercial development along Chestnut and Kearney. Vast plots of undeveloped farmland wrap around the airport’s west side.

But the creation of two community improvement districts last year enabled developers to collect special sales taxes to help pay for new projects such as Airport Plaza at the intersection of Kearney and West Bypass.

The development now boasts a motel, office space, a convenience store and a recently completed $20 million T-Mobile customer service call center employing hundreds of people.

An apartment complex and Wendy’s are also in the works.

“It has been extremely successful,” said Galen Pellham with Pellham Commerical Realtors, the group overseeing the sale and development of lots at Airport Plaza.

Pellham said development along Kearney between West Bypass and Kansas Expressway is exploding, which is partly why Hammons has questioned the plan to route airport traffic south to Chestnut Expressway.

For years, Kearney has been the main east-west artery delivering people to and from the airport. But travel patterns will be “dramatically different” when the $119 million Midfield Terminal is complete, according to a northwest Springfield development study adopted by the Metropolitan Planning Organization last June.

By 2032, 1.8 million visitors are expected to pass through the newly designated national airport. Planners also estimate 9,400 average daily trips from the Midfield Terminal to surrounding roadways, with 70 percent of airport passengers heading into Springfield proper.

The study also recommends that “approaches to the airport should be attractive and should offer a positive impression of Springfield, Greene County and the Ozarks.”

Avoidance

Some Springfield businesses and institutions already route their guests around the northwest part of town, although not necessarily for aesthetic reasons.

Bass Pro Shops spokesman Larry Whiteley said visitors to the company’s corporate offices typically head east on Interstate 44 and then south on Glenstone Avenue. And those headed to Outdoor World, the company’s crown jewel, go south from the airport on West Bypass and then east on Sunshine Street.

“It’s just faster,” Whiteley said.

Missouri Sate University also is host to dozens of out-of-state applicants for faculty openings, said Frank Einhellig, the school’s acting provost. Last year alone, he said, the university interviewed between 200 and 300 candidates, the majority of whom flew into Springfield.

Einhellig said he typically gives guests a tour of Springfield that involves heading south first, then east toward campus. He often drives them into town on Sunshine – by Outdoor World, of course – and then up Kimbrough Avenue for a glimpse at the established neighborhoods surrounding the university.

Einhellig didn’t expect his travel patterns to change when the first leg of the airport access road is built to Division Street.

“Division is not a good way to bring people in,” he said, mentioning the street’s industrial nature and abrupt curve. “I think an attractive entry helps.”