East Sunshine Street is back on the forefront, and concerns remain over the impact raised medians could have on businesses along one of Springfield's key east-west streets.
Months after a plans to make safety improvements to a stretch of East Sunshine drew the ire of business owners and elected officials, Missouri Department of Transportation officials provided Springfield City Council members with an update on the status of the project.
The update drew a large crowd to the Busch Municipal Building’s Denny Whayne Conference Room for the City Council’s Dec. 12 luncheon, and further inquiry from council members to determine how the safety improvements — namely the medians — could impact business.
While MoDOT is working to accommodate businesses along the corridor, the engineers' ultimate goal is to provide a “safe and reliable transportation system.”
East Sunshine hosts a lot of cars, crashes
Medians are among the many improvements planned for East Sunshine between Glenstone Avenue and Farm Road 199. The entire project, estimated to cost $10.7 million, includes resurfacing, updates to existing pedestrian sidewalks and crossings and a host of safety improvements.
The safety improvements were the focus of Tuesday’s discussion, though MoDOT remains about $2 million in funding shy of the $3.1 million needed for that portion of the project. In addition to a series of medians planned between Luster Avenue and Blackman Road, the project includes upgrades to traffic signals and intersections, closing driveways, sidewalk improvements, a new pedestrian signal and controlled U-turns in some places.
MoDOT argues the improvements are needed to safely move vehicles and pedestrians through the busy road, which sees about 32,000 cars per day. That number is expected to grow to 36,500 cars per day by 2041, both figures north of its capacity of 21,000-28,000.
Between 2016 and 2020, 1,025 crashes occurred on this stretch of Sunshine, resulting in 5 deaths, 13 disabling injuries, 305 minor injuries and thousands of dollars in property damage.
The crash rate on Sunshine between Glenstone and Blackman was higher than the state average on similar five-lane highways every year from 2017 to 2021, with the stretch of road between Mayfair Avenue and Ingram Mill Road posing an even greater risk since 2018.
MoDOT is using that crash data to determine where medians, and other mitigation strategies — including closing driveways, relocating entries and adding controlled U-turns — would make the most sense, while trying to accommodate the needs of businesses, whose owners fear limiting left turns could hurt their livelihoods.
“There's not enough left turn times available for people to make left turns, but they're still making those left turns and that's increasing the crashes,” MoDOT project manager Kristi Bachman said. “If we do nothing, we know that traffic will continue to grow on Sunshine, these crashes will grow, the injuries will increase and the quality of the corridor will deteriorate.”
Businesses could face economic impact either way
MoDOT officials acknowledge businesses along Sunshine will be impacted by changes to the road, as determined through public engagement — which included surveys, public meeting and roundtable discussions — and an economic impact analysis. While that information prompted revisions to the original plans, including removing medians in some places, some Springfield business owners remain concerned.
“When this type of access management happens, there are economic impacts,” Shawn Leight, the vice president of the engineering firm CBB, conceded. “Most of that impact is addressed by the business owners as they adapt.”
The analysis determined that the majority of businesses on East Sunshine required minimal or no modifications to their properties, with 18% requiring minor adjustments and 3% in need of “considerable site changes.” Strategies for mitigating the impact medians may pose remain unclear.
Cross easements, which could provide for parking lot connections between properties, are named as a possible solution.
Leight said convenience-type businesses, like fast food restaurants and gas stations, are the most vulnerable when road access changes.
However, Bachman said MoDOT's research shows a number of people are avoiding East Sunshine already. Traffic engineers expect the number of people avoiding it to grow if improvements aren’t made, which could also result in a loss of business.
The public engagement, on the other hand, painted a different picture. The vast majority of the few survey respondents anticipated a 10% decrease in business from this project.
Sunshine Street business owners concerned
Todd Wilson, the chief operating officer of Rapid Roberts, is dissatisfied with the changes proposed by MoDOT. Wilson remains concerned over the potential impact of the medians to the company’s gas station at 3351 E. Sunshine St., pointing to a 15% decrease in business at the Rapid Roberts at 1221 E. Kingsley St. following the construction of a median on South National Avenue
“I'm preparing for a significant decrease in sales,” he said.
Wilson also doesn’t think MoDOT officials provided enough context from their traffic study, arguing that a breakdown of where the crashes and fatalities occurred would provide a better frame of reference for safety improvements.
“When we look at the crash data, what are we willing to accept?” he asked. “I mean, we can't stop rear-ends, we can't stop right-outs colliding with cars already going the same way.”
Richard Ollis, a former city council member and a partner at Ollis, Akers and Arney Insurance and Business Advisors, which is located at 2274 E. Sunshine St., is optimistic about the steps MoDOT has taken in considering the impact to businesses, but said “We’re not there yet.”
“I believe that medians certainly need to go in some spots,” Ollis said. “And I also believe that intersection improvements need to be made, that there needs to be more pedestrian access, and there needs to be more sidewalk improvements… I think we're getting closer, I just think that we need to collaborate a little bit more, and try to figure some of this stuff out.”
Council members want to see landscaping, clearer picture of economic impact
Though some expressed concern, council members voiced no direct opposition to the project. Councilmember Derek Lee asked about how to better gauge the potential economic impact to businesses and more effectively use traffic crash data to determine where to place medians.
“It's kind of hard to relate it to real life when we just say impacts,” Lee said. “I'm just wondering if any of the studies have anything deeper, where we can understand how many businesses are going to actually go out of business or how many are just going to lose money or, you know, where we’re going to be.”
Councilmember Brandon Jenson encouraged MoDOT to consider implementing landscaping into the safety improvements, acknowledging that it “isn't always transportation engineers’ favorite thing,” but that it “can be done really well and could provide additional value to adjacent property owners beyond just the access management piece.”
MoDOT plans to hold another public meeting about East Sunshine, and is open to additional revisions to the project, while prioritizing the safety improvements.
“It's MoDOT’s responsibility to address safety and traffic needs on this highway,” Bachman said. “We don't take this responsibility lightly. Not only is it a professional responsibility, but it's personal to us…we want it to be reliable and safe for us and for our families, but ultimately we want it to be safe for everybody who uses Sunshine Street.”
Construction is set to begin in 2025, and last about two years.
