City, Northwest join forces for streetscape
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
An Orr Wyatt Streetscapes construction crew installed a metal archway at Fourth and Buchanan streets during the closing days of 2014. The archway is to become the signature architectural feature of a rehabilitated automobile and pedestrian corridor linking Northwest Missouri State University to the downtown square.
The Maryville City Council on May 27 voted unanimously to approve a $2.1 million contract with Orr Wyatt Streetscapes of Kansas City for “Phase 1” construction of an overhaul for the five-block area along the West Fourth Street corridor between the courthouse square and Northwest Missouri State University.
The total cost of the job was later pulled down to around $1.7 million through “value engineering” and a cooperative financing plan that included a $156,000 contribution from Northwest Missouri State University.
University funds will be used to pay for signage and architectural features such as Bearcat paws engraved into the pavement and a metal archway displaying the university’s name and logo.
Additional funds for the project are being captured through savings on competitive bids submitted for additions to the city’s network of hiking/biking trails and an increase in the number of tax credits Maryville will be allowed to sell through December 2015 under the Neighborhood Assistance Program administered by the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
Neighborhood Assistance financing accounts for $389,000 of the streetscape’s budget. Other external funding includes $440,000 in Missouri Department of Transportation grants.
Municipal tax dollars are also being applied to the project, which is scheduled for construction this summer. $300,000 from the city’s Water/Sewer Fund will be used to install a new water line, and $230,000 has been allotted from the General Fund.
Aside from a smoother street and wider sidewalks, the core idea behind the West Fourth Street streetscape project is to create both a physical and psychological connection between Northwest Missouri State University and downtown Maryville.
That idea was translated into steel and concrete early in December as an Orr Wyatt crew erected the trademark archway at Fourth and Buchanan that will serve as the corridor’s most prominent design feature.
The crew used a large crane to hoist the metal archway into place between two large pedestals constructed earlier. The crosspiece, which stands about 20 feet high, was then bolted and welded into place by a workman standing on a mechanical lift.
With substantial completion of sidewalks and the recent installation of a new water main, the corridor, which is to be completed next spring or summer, is beginning to take shape.
The project was originally to have been completed in fall 2014. But a rainy summer and administrative delays within the Missouri Department of Transportation, which is providing nearly a half-million dollars in grant funding, set back the timeline.
Work on the streetscape began in July and involved removing as much as 10 inches of worn pavement from a cumbersome three-way traffic interchange near the entrance to campus. That interchange, at Dunn Street, has been reconfigured into a simple “T” intersection, though the street is still closed to traffic.
Other streetscape features comprise new asphalt for the street itself, construction of a ten-foot-wide paved pedestrian pathway, Americans with Disabilities Act compliant crosswalks and curb ramps, landscaping, vintage-style street lamps, decorative masonry, new driveway approaches, storm sewer improvements, benches, trash receptacles and pedestals for public art installations.
