There is a lot of wasted land on the NE side of MO 291 between Kansas St. & I-35 exit. With the new Ford plant being built on South Liberty Pky water and sewer lines will be extended to open up a vast amount of land. A total redesign of the I-35, 69 HWY, South Liberty Pky, Pleasant Valley Rd could someday take a lot of pressure off of MO 152 / Kansas St.. The flyover will help a little but not as much as redesigned intersections.

We moved over to a neighborhood just across I-35 from Liberty, used to live a few miles west of Zona Rosa. Now that we are closer to Liberty we spend more time in the I-35/152 corridor and I hate it. I dread it every time we have to cross 35 and go into Liberty. They can build flyovers north and south of 152 but its not going to significantly make an impact.

If you go to the KCPD's Shoal Creek division website they have a study linked there addressing this corridor. In that study there is a comment that states the recommended light controlled intercharges on roads should be no closer than 1/4 mile a part and then mentions that along this particular corridor there are 5 light controlled intercharges in a 1/2 mile stretch.

The real solution is making 152 a flyover with no lights until you get to 291 on the Liberty side. The flyover would start out by the lights they just put in in front of those apartments west of the area. You build one on/off ramp for westbound and eastbound traffic to get to the the shopping below the overpass on the KCMO side and likely do the same thing in the area between 35 and 291 on the Liberty side. At 35 you'd build proper highway interchanges that are not light controlled.

If you've ever been to Wichita, KS it would look like what they did when making Hwy 54 through downtown an overpass and what they did out west, also on Hwy 54 just west of the I-235 interchange.

If Liberty could just get their traffic lights properly timed, then there wouldn't be nearly as bad a problem as there is now. I hate sitting at a red light, with a backed up green light in front of me because of the red light in front of it. The worst part is that there was a taxpayer approved and funded measure on the ballet in like 2004 for $500,000 to get the lights properly timed. Apparently nothing changed, even after that passed with like a 90% "Yes" vote.

Adjusting the light timing may help some, but honestly when I look at the traffic flow through there I can't see light timing as the answer.

I also don't understand why it would cost $500K to send a guy/gal out there to twist a dial or flip switches on the control board for the lights. Even if it included some study that seems like 4 times the money you'd need to spend.

Regardless, there are just too many lights in such a short distance for the amount of cars flowing through there. If they could take out at least two of the lights that would help. In my opinion they should take out the light at Church and take out the light on the Liberty side at Bluejay Drive. And by take out I don't mean create bridges, I mean block off those two roads from having access to 152. Funnel the traffic to Flintlock on the KCMO side and funnel traffic to Connistor and Cookingham on the Liberty side. This would require some of the side roads to be expanded and beefed up to handle the redirected traffic flow.

And I would love to see the lights removed at I-35, but that would require a whole different interchange for cars to get on/off the Interstate and would likely be the most costly.

There is no way they can take out the lights at Blue Jay drive with the high school right there. That intersection is BAD for accidents, especially when the kids are getting out of school.

Make your reservations now for:

PIZZA RANCH

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/27/36 ... ng-to.html

Oh, joy! We so need another chain restaurant--especially pizza!!

Not just pizza, pizza and CHICKEN!

I saw the state is accepting bids for the Flintlock Flyover with construction starting as early as this Fall.

If that shopping center right at US 69 and I-35 gets developed they're going to put a straight through road from the exit at Pleasant Valley. The rest won't happen anytime soon. They would need to realign US 69 before they can do much more.

the solution requires six lanes from I-35 to 291, not less lights. The lights are fine with shorter backups at each light.

Why would you suggest sending people on a miles-long detour and want to put more people on the bridge over I-35? You'd also send hundreds of cars down a two-lane road that elementary students cross to get to/from school.

Not sure where you get that I'm routing people to a street by a school. I'm talking about widening Victory on the south side and Stewart on the north side and have cars go to/fro to get to the one road I'd leave open with access to 152. Also, I'm not putting more people on 152, my plan just moves their entry/exit point onto 152. I'm not talking about closing some road that people are using to get somewhere else other than 152 or across 152.

I should also add that I'm not talking about using existing roads as-is. There is just too much traffic. Any side roads that would be the new arteries to get to the more limited access points to 152 would clearly need to be expanded to handle the traffic. I fully realize some of the east/west roads on either side of 152 or dinky two lane squirrelly roads.

it still won't help. the choke point is on the bridge over I-35 and at Church and Flintlock in Kansas City.
The growth in Shoal Creek has been huge compared to Liberty.

When they widened the Kansas St/Barry Rd bridge over I-35 years back the traffic crunch instantly lessened. I remember the difference from before and after.

Your idea is sound except that every road in that area is crunched for space. What would you take out to widen any of the cross roads?

Much of the traffic that goes across the 152/I35 intersection bridge will be diverted with the Flintlock flyover bridge spanning I35 at Mid Jay Drive. A lot of the traffic from Shoal Creek is forced to use the I35/152 bridge because the Flintlock Flyover doesn't exist. Should it exist then there would be a massive use of it to cross into Liberty. I too remember the band-aid project they did a decade ago to widen the existing bridge crossing at 152/I35. That project should never have been done, if it wasn't going to be done right. They added one measly lane, that's it. They should have widened the whole 152 stretch through Liberty and crossing I35 and added at least 2 full lanes to that bridge. Either way you know the impact that one extra lane had, imagine the impact a full 4 lane bridge (Flintlock Flyover) will have.

Most of the big roads are timed together. You change everything at once. That means coordinating a whole web of lights.

You're talking from Flintlock all the way to 291 and beyond and it involves parking lots, side streets and multiple state highways and days nights,weekends, school traffic, etc.
Then add in business interests. Company x wants longer lights to easier serve their shop. That slows things down

MARC did this in Kansas a few years back. Planning took years with a whole team of people.

It's a major undertaking.

And then add plan busting growth in Shoal Creek, something like 30 years of growth in 10 years, and everything goes out the window.

[quote="smh"]Make your reservations now for:

PIZZA RANCH

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/27/36 ... ng-to.html[/quote/]

Went in to apply for a job and saw a sign saying they will open Oct. 15.

Boom! Can't wait.

The Flintlock Flyover will have only two lanes, but will be able to eventually be expanded out to four lanes. Traffic at 152 & I-35 will get worse next year when the new 291 bridge over I-35 is being constructed. Since the TIGER funds didn't come through, it will probably be at least another two years out before the Pleasant Valley interchange is reconstructed.