Sunshine corridor study could alter access to businesses

An emerging design for a 3.1-mile section of Sunshine Street is in its early stages, but some changes that are envisioned to improve safety and quality of place could alter how businesses are accessed.

A city-commissioned Sunshine Street Corridor Study is ongoing, with a two-day design charrette – or participatory workshop – held Sept. 29-30 at the Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church, located at a central point on the corridor.

The study covers the portion of the route west of Glenstone Avenue to Kansas Expressway.

As the plan was presented to the public Sept. 30 in both tabletop maps and a PowerPoint presentation by officials, it appeared to use medians to limit access to vehicles making left turns into businesses, with left turns from either direction depicted only at cross streets.

Asked if a limit to left turns for vehicles was what was on the literal table, as it appeared to be from diagrams, Ryan Stehn, project manager with Crawford, Murphy & Tilly Inc., or CMT, said that was the case.

“That would be the goal, honestly, and that’s what we’ve heard from everybody here,” he said. “There’s a lot of buy-in from the public.”

CMT is conducting the study at a cost to the city of $702,000, according to past SBJ reporting.

But in a phone call after the event, Kristen Milam, communication coordinator with the city of Springfield’s Department of Public Information and Civic Engagement, said the displays really just demonstrate that there will be some kind of median.

“There will be access provided throughout,” she said. “The illustration is showing that’s something we’re talking about, but there will not be a median the entire way.”

In a presentation during the charrette Sept. 30, a slide showed an explanation of access management that appears to reinforce the middle-ground approach described by Milam.

“Access management means making smart rules about where cars can get on and off a busy road, so the street environment is safer for everyone and traffic moves smoothly,” it stated.

Owners absent
Business owners might have strong feelings about limiting access to their driveways, which are currently open to drivers coming from either direction on Sunshine Street. SBJ requested admission to a special charrette just for businesses Sept. 30, but that request was denied, with Cora Scott, director of public information, saying the meeting was not open to the public.

“It is very difficult to get business owners to open up with media in the room,” she said via email.

But no one was in the room anyway, as it turned out, despite efforts by the city and CMT. Stehn said no business owners showed up for the business session.

“We put it out there,” Stehn said. “We took flyers to every business, with that caveat, these are small businesses – we could only take flyers at certain times, so whether those flyers made it into the owners’ hands, we can’t control that,” Stehn said.

Stehn said limiting access to businesses may present some challenges, and that’s why consultants needed to hear from them.

“There are opportunities to add median breaks, but overall, the public sees and deals with these accesses, and they understand them,” he said. “Honestly, what we heard, I think the businesses should listen to. A lot of people stated that they won’t stop on this corridor now, and that’s with full access. There is full access everywhere, and people basically say they avoid the corridor other than just driving straight through because they know if they get into a business, they can’t take a left out of it.”

Stehn said it is also important to consultants not to harm businesses.

“So, we need to hear from them and make a plan that works,” he said. “They’re also small businesses, and we understand what they deal with.”

Technical approach
Stehn said some aspects of the plan will require a more technical approach to provide access and limit losses.

“In the high-level phase of the ideas, it’s really hard to show how these medians are going to work,” Stehn said.

Pointing to an area of the tabletop map, Stehn showed a place where additional pavement could be added to allow U-turns, limiting conflict points, he said.

He said the corridor is set up well for U-turns, which may be viewed as risky but are not dangerous at signals. Examples are already found throughout the city, he said, citing the intersection of Campbell Avenue and Republic Road as one example.

He added that the plan would avoid directing people into the neighborhoods to turn around to gain access into or out of businesses. That’s something that’s hard to show on the displays set up for the public charrette.

He said safety is a big issue that needs to be addressed with the corridor plan. There have been about 1,000 crashes on the corridor over a five-year period, he said, and he noted that many business properties are vacant.

“To say that our ultimate plan is going to look like this and it’s going to be implemented next year, no – this is going to be a long haul,” he said.

He added that studies have shown access management actually improves economics along corridors. An example can be found in an August 2024 report from the Federal Highway Administration, which identified four factors – safety, mobility, economy and livability – that it called integral to the vitality of businesses.

“If access of a road is perceived as unsafe, customers may seek other options,” the report states, adding that replacing a two-way left-turn lane with a median and combining several adjacent driveways into one reduces conflict points and the potential for crashes.

Stehn said local public feedback has demonstrated the people are wary of crossing traffic lanes to turn into a business, as they can throughout the corridor now.

“Yeah, it’s full access, but it’s scary to use,” he said.

He added that access is a bigger issue for some businesses than others.

“Some of these businesses in this stretch are more of an administrative style, so it won’t affect them as much,” he said. “That is less of a concern than car washes, fast food, where you limit certain accesses and it could be detrimental to a business, and that’s what we will be focusing on.”

Prosperity the goal
An important goal of the corridor plan is to help businesses be successful, according to Stehn.

“For the business community, I want them to know that our goal is to make Sunshine a prosperous corridor for everyone – the neighborhoods and the businesses,” he said. “What we are going through will give them the tools to prosper along the way.”

Milam said the city is looking at strategic access points as a way to accomplish the community’s vision.

“We’ve heard a lot about safety and pedestrian access,” she said. “From a business owner’s perspective, they’re less worried about the access being impeded and more concerned about the fact that you can’t walk down the sidewalk on parts of Sunshine.”

The city and its consultant will be approaching businesses, specifically the ones who would be impacted by the study’s emerging recommendations, Milam said.

In April 2023, Springfield City Council passed a resolution asking the Missouri Department of Transportation to reconsider adding medians to the section of Sunshine Street located east of Glenstone Avenue, according to past SBJ reporting. Business opposition to that plan was spearheaded by then-Councilmember Richard Ollis, whose insurance and business advising agency, Ollis/Akers/Arney, located on Sunshine, was slated to lose one of its two entrances if MoDOT’s median plan advanced.

West Sunshine businesses appear to be less activated than their eastern counterparts, at least at the corridor planning stage, which comes long before any actual changes to the road are proposed.

Some business owners reached by SBJ said they were unaware of the corridor planning activities. Terrie Reno, owner of Complete Weddings and Events at 1779 S. Grant Ave., said she hadn’t heard about the public or business charrettes. Tim Clegg, co-owner of Hurt’s Donut Co., said his attention is focused on expansion, with two other locations planned in different states.

At Loftis Jewelry & Pawnbrokers, 410 W. University St., at the corner of Sunshine Street and Campbell Avenue, manager Daniel Newton said he loves the area.

“People can cut through our parking lot to get around traffic, and that brings more people to us,” he said. “Maybe they figure they’ll save time today but then check us out tomorrow. There’s so much going on – it seems like we have it all.”