The city of Springfield, Missouri, will undertake more than 100 capital-improvement projects worth more than $80 million in fiscal year 2018, including a few Route 66 plans.
The Springfield News-Leader reports the city council needs to approve the list next month, and the fiscal year begins in July. So it probably will be late summer before construction saw horses go up around the city for these projects.
The money will come from a 1/4-cent capital-improvement sales tax, a 1/2-cent transportation sales tax, a 1/2-cent parks sales tax, plus state and federal grants.
The full list of improvement projects is here.
Among the projects
— Streetscape for Grant Avenue and Route 66, between Walnut and Olive streets: The project will include decorative traffic signal poles and Americans with Disabilities Act, pedestrian signals and ramps. Total cost is $840,000 in fiscal year 2018.
— Streetscape on College Street (aka Route 66) between Seventh and Ninth avenues. It’s slated for $3 million in improvements, from FY 2020 through FY 2021.
— Streetscape on 0.2 miles of College Street, from Grant to Market avenues. Total cost is $200,000 in FY 2018.
Springfield really has upped its game for all things Route 66, including establishing the fast-growing Birthplace of Route 66 Festival. Springfield probably saw the benefits of embracing its Route 66 heritage with the release of the Route 66 Economic Impact Study a few years ago.
(Image of downtown Springfield, Missouri, by Mark Goebel via Flickr)
Damn…every time I read one of these headlines, I get excited and say to myself, “Yes! My hometown in Illinois has finally gotten their act together where Route 66 is concerned”. And almost every single time it’s Missouri and not Illinois. Good for them, though.