Northwest awarded grant funding to enhance College Avenue crosswalk

Northwest Missouri State University is another step closer to realizing a reimagined street section that will enhance pedestrian safety, accessibility and connectivity within a highly traveled section of Maryville and the University campus.

The Missouri Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) has awarded Northwest grant funding totaling $600,000 to improve the walkway connecting the Joyce and Harvey White International Plaza and the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building.

In March, the University’s Board of Regents gave Northwest the greenlight to seek funding support through the grant program, which will pay for 80 percent of the total project cost. Northwest will fund the remaining 20 percent, or up to $150,000, from its annual Campus Master Plan funds to meet the total project cost of $750,000.

In its application for the funding, Northwest noted College Avenue’s place in Maryville’s growing trail network and proximity to multiple activity centers, including Bearcat Stadium, Bearcat Arena, the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts and Everett Brown Education Hall, which houses Horace Mann Laboratory School and the Phyllis and Richard Leet Center for Children and Families. While College Avenue also serves as a primary route for vehicles to access the Northwest campus, the block between North Ray and North Munn avenues has evolved in a way that currently has six crosswalks of various angles to move pedestrians across the roadway.

When complete, the redesigned section will include a raised traffic table in the center of the block to eliminate conflicting crosswalks, create one primary pedestrian route across the roadway and substantially calm traffic speeds. The redevelopment also will include street lighting and a new sidewalk connecting North Munn to North Ray on the south side of the street.

“We are thrilled for Northwest to have been chosen as a recipient for this grant funding,” Dan Haslag, the University’s assistant vice president of facility services, said. “The project will greatly enhance pedestrian safety and navigable routes for our students, employees and visitors at this southern section of our campus.”

The crosswalk redevelopment coincides with a renovation of Martindale Hall, which serves as the home of the University’s School of Health Science and Wellness in addition to occupying a prominent location along College Avenue between Lamkin Activity Center and the International Plaza. When complete, the facility will feature a new foods and nutrition lab, a well-being lab and a sports science lab as well as classrooms, collaboration spaces and lounge spaces.