Thursday, Dec. 20 2012 4:17PM
Your opinion
Bridge to cause problems for city
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ReprintDear Editor,
The proposed Blackwell interchange is not only the “bridge to nowhere” as it is bound to the South by the James A. Memorial Wildlife Area and it is bound to the North by Flemming Park. Sadly it is bound to be the fruit of more litigation for the City.
The perception maybe that an interchange three-quarters of a mile east of Todd George will help traffic, but I am afraid the reality will be an even more congested mess on 50 Highway and would in no way justify the lives of innocent children who walk across Blackwell to go to the Canterbury Pool, Park or to School.
You may recall that in November of 2004 a 10-year-old boy, Justin Faust, was killed crossing Blackwell and there have been many accidents since then. One involved car landing in a fence and a tree. Canterbury’s monument has been destroyed three times by drivers and on one occasion a transformer was hit in the right-away on the eastern side of Blackwell. While narrowing the lanes to one and putting in cross walks have helped, but it is apparently not enough.
Now MoDOT proposes to give the City of Lee’s Summit 50 percent of the cost of the Interchange because the city cannot raise all the funds through the TIF.
The great irony here is that there is an interchange that is desperately needed: at the Milton Thompson/Smart Road area which is within the confines of the TIF. The statistics from 2006-2007 stated that there had been 40 accidents at these difficult access points to 50 Highway.
In doing all of this the city is ignoring its own ordinance directing it not put an arterial road through the middle of a subdivision, the fact that it approved the subdivision apparently knowing it was going to do so, and MoDOT is ignoring its standard of two miles between intersections signals more liability down the road. When governmental entities start ignoring their own standards and best engineering practices they open themselves up to liability. Given Blackwell’s proclivity for accidents, with more traffic coming from 50 Highway, how long do you think it will be until another person or child is injured or killed?
Linda Koch Marshall,
Lee’s Summit
President of the Canterbury Home Owner's Association
