City Council Examining Glenstone Improvements

One of the city’s most traveled roads will be getting significant improvements in the name of safety.

Springfield City Council was shown a presentation at their weekly Council lunch on changes coming to Glenstone Avenue. The Missouri Department of Transportation is looking at $12.4 million to be spent on improvements to the corridor.

The project’s goals are to:

• Improve safety
• Reduce the peak hour delays for drivers
• Improve pedestrian access
• Signal operation/maintenance

Some of the changes would include prohibiting left turns at intersections like Meadowmere, Elm and Turner Streets, which traffic engineers say could cut accidents as much as 68 percent. A sidewalk would be installed from Grand to Cherry, which could bring up to 65 percent fewer vehicle-pedestrian crashes.

Pedestrian accidents were of concern for Councilman Abe McGull, who specifically mentioned accidents involving pedestrians near the Walmart at Glenstone and Kearney in Tuesday’s meeting. MoDoT officials said they would be taking steps in that area to improve pedestrian safety.

Councilman Hosmer also raised the issue of taking steps to inform pedestrians to use crosswalks rather than midblock crossings.

“You’ll [suddenly find] people standing in the center turn lane,” Hosmer said, referring to driving Glenstone at night between Sunshine and Chestnut Expressway. “It’s amazing more people haven’t been killed on Glenstone.”

Here is the presentation given to Council:

City-Glenstone-safety-improvements