| Today's Feature
Traffic
Study Summary.
The following recommendations
are contained in the Traffic Impact Study
commissioned by the Carthage City Council. The
Council received a copy of the study last Tuesday
night at their regular meeting. No action has yet
been taken on the recommendations other than
those noted in the report.
Airport Drive and
Grand/Fairlawn
The existing five-legged
intersection is planned to be converted to a
roundabout in a cooperative project between the
City of Carthage and MoDOT. Design is currently
underway by a consultant under contract with
MoDOT. The traffic projections being used in that
design effort should be compared to the
projections produced in this study to assure that
the roundabout capacity is sufficient to carry
the traffic that would result from full
development of this area.
Elk Street and
Garrison/Fairlawn
The intersection geometrics at
this location are complicated by Garrison Avenue
intersecting Elk Street just a few feet west of
the main intersection. When projected traffic
from the Myers Park Subdivision is added to
existing traffic, the operation of this
intersection could create substantial delay.
The recommended solution is to
create a new intersection on Fairlawn Avenue
approximately 300 feet south of Elk Street by
turning Garrison Avenue to the northeast on a new
alignment and dead ending Garrison Avenue south
of Elk Street with a cul-de-sac. The new segment
of Garrison Avenue would take advantage of land
currently used as a large parking lot and could
avoid taking any structures. Driveway widths or
locations on the east side of Fairlawn may have
to be adjusted to assure that the new
intersection is a 3-way, not a 4-way,
intersection.
This street realignment and
cul-de-sac would solve the future
development-related problems at Elk Street and
would provide a safe and efficient route for
southbound traffic on Garrison/Fairlawn to access
the interior of the Myers Park Subdivision
without passing through the roundabout at Airport
Drive. It would also provide for traffic
returning via the same route to the central or
northern parts of the city.
Myers Park Interior Streets
Utility and roadway connections
should be available at the exterior borders of
the Myers Park Subdivision, but the city should
avoid building most interior streets and
utilities until potential users are identified.
By not installing the minor internal streets at
this time, the most flexibility for large users
as well as small users will be possible. The
existing plat defines the primary north/south and
east/west collector streets and the four major
public street access points.
Limiting driveway access along
the exterior arterial streets to a 300’ to
400’ spacing and along the interior streets
to 150’ to 200’ spacing is a
development guideline that should be considered
for this new commercial area. It will serve to
enhance the smooth, efficient and safe flow of
traffic in and around this important commercial
site. Cross access between adjacent businesses
and good internal circulation within individual
sites are important as well.
The planned roundabout
intersection at the center of the Myers Park
Subdivision where Garrison and George E. Phelps
Blvd. intersect should be an excellent solution
to the traffic control need at this location. It
will handle the expected volumes, and it can
provide an important visual focal point for the
commercial development through the use of
creative landscape design.
ADDITIONAL
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following
are additional improvements necessary upon full
build-out.
1) New traffic
signals will be required at:
• Grand
Avenue and Elm Road
• Grand
Avenue and George E. Phelps Blvd.
•
Realigned Garrison Avenue and Fairlawn Avenue
(South of Elk Street)
• S.H. HH
and Garrison Avenue
• S.H. HH
and Hazel Avenue
• S.H. HH
and U.S. 71 Northbound Ramps
• S.H. HH
and U.S. 71 Southbound Ramps
• S.H. HH
and Chapel Road
• Hazel
Avenue and George E. Phelps Blvd.
• Hazel
Avenue and Airport Drive
2) S.H. HH will require
widening to three lanes between the U.S. 71
northbound ramp intersection and the U.S. 71
southbound ramp intersection. The existing bridge
can be re-striped to accomplish this if the
shoulders are incorporated into the driving
lanes. S.H. HH will also require widening to
three lanes through the Chapel Road intersection
and past the high school site where it would tie
into the existing three lane cross section at
Steadley School. The planned location of the high
school east of the elementary school should
minimize high school traffic in front of the
elementary school With proper design and access
from the high school to Chapel Road, this site
should work well for the new high school.
3) S.H. HH will require
widening to five lanes from the U.S. 71
northbound ramp intersection to east of Hazel
Avenue. It is highly recommended that this cross
section be continued, however, along the full
frontage of the Myers Park Subdivision to east of
Grand Avenue.
4) Both U.S. 71 exit ramps to
S.H. HH will require widening to two lanes for
left and right turns.
5) Grand Avenue (S.H. 571)
should be widened to three lanes from south of
S.H. HH to south of Elm Road. Grand Avenue will
require widening to five lanes from Airport Drive
to south of S.H. HH.
6) Hazel Avenue will require
widening to three lanes from S.H. HH to north of
Airport Drive.
7) Airport Drive should be
constructed as three lanes between Hazel Avenue
an the roundabout at Grand Avenue.
8) The new Garrison connection
to Fairlawn Avenue (south of Elk Street) should
be constructed as a two lane roadway. The
intersection of Garrison Avenue and Airport Drive
should be changed to multi-way stop control when
warranted.
9) An added southbound right
turn lane should be constructed on Grand Avenue
at George E. Phelps Boulevard to increase the
capacity of the intersection.
10) The main collector street
connections from the Myers Park Subdivision to
the surrounding arterial streets (Garrison Avenue
and George E. Phelps Blvd.) should be constructed
three lanes wide at a minimum.
The Myers Park Subdivision and
vicinity in Carthage presents a great development
opportunity to the city. It has very close and
convenient access to U.S. 71 which can be greatly
enhanced by a few key roadway improvements. These
improvements can build a solid foundation upon
which development can occur while maintaining
flexibility for unpredictable economic conditions
and an unknown pace of commercial investments.
The uncertainty of the future always makes
flexibility in any plan a great benefit.
Anyone Interested In
Saturday Art Classes?
by Robin Putnam, artCentral
We’re just crusing into
fall around here. We’ve had the remnants of
artCampers coming in to pick up their fired clay
projects but for the most part it’s just a
memory these days !! We are looking forward to
ending our year with some great exhibits.
Our Member’s Gallery
upstairs is now being booked for shows since our
gallery downstairs is already booked solid for
2002.
October 26th will be the
opening for Joe Leiter. He will be exhibiting his
latest paintings in the downstairs gallery and we
are happy to say we will have an exhibit
upstairs, as well.
Bobbie Williams and Jake Evans
have booked the Member’s Gallery so the
opening reception on the 26th will be for both
exhibits.
Bobbie and Jake both graduated
from Carthage High this last May. They are both
very talented young men and have been involved
with artCentral for a while.
You may remember they both
taught sculpture at our artCamp this year and
Bobbie was our teacher’s aide. Bobbie also
helped us out last year with artCamp and Jake
participated in the Bill Snow stone carving
workshop with a scholarship received through
artCentral.
Both boys will be attending
MSSC and both have gotten scholarships there,
also.
We wish them all the best as
they start out in college and hope to see them at
artCamp next summer.
Their exhibit will include
paintings, sculpture and may be some pottery !!
We hope everyone will come out
that evening and show their support !! We’ll
keep everyone posted on those details as the time
draws near.
We are considering starting a
Saturday artCamp and want to know who might be
interested in such a thing.
Just call and leave your name
and address and we will send out the details as
we work them out. It looks like it may be a
Winter or Spring thing.
More......next week. 358-4404.
1110 E 13th www. ozarkartistscolony.com
Tues. - Sat 9am - 3pm.
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