Status and future of the River Market area??

[WSPanic]

The rendering makes it seem like it's just a parking lot that's easier to navigate now that you can enter/exit from both the north and south side.

[KCPowercat]

Hopefully part of this is improving the streetcar interaction with the walnut intersection. Always annoys me it stops for the station then inches 4 feet forward to stop at the 3 way stop. Some electronic signature that stopped all other traffic when the streetcar is at the stop until it gets through that intersection would be good.

[DaveKCMO]

Hopefully part of this is improving the streetcar interaction with the walnut intersection. Always annoys me it stops for the station then inches 4 feet forward to stop at the 3 way stop. Some electronic signature that stopped all other traffic when the streetcar is at the stop until it gets through that intersection would be good.

I lobbied for 5th & Walnut to be a signalized intersection, but was rebuffed.

[KCPowercat]

It seems fine as a 3 way stop without the streetcar there. Seems there could be a temp switch to stop all traffic so streetcar could breeze through after it's station stop.

But I live in the future I've decided on many of my ideas

[TheLastGentleman]

Loving the trees and landscaping, but I still think it would be natural to build up to Walnut. Tower does have a point, that it's still going to be a long walk from building to building if it's not tightened up.

[normalthings]

Is anyone else not a fan of this design? It feels very car centric.

I agree with TLG, putting some new market stalls or buildings there would be a better option.

[TheLastGentleman]

Bringing the urban edge up would improve the space immensely. While I see reopening Walnut as a good step forward, I hope it's the first part of a larger plan at some point.

[kcjak]

The Cityscene article mentions there will be ten (only!) parking spaces, and they will be on the east side of Walnut, so the rendering isn't necessarily accurate. I'm imagining the same picture during a weekday afternoon, but without 95% of the people. But I don't see stalls or other buildings working on the west side given the weekend vendors need to get their vehicles in and out.

i love the trees, which are sorely lacking in the current market - let's hope they spring for some more mature and hardier trees so instead of the baby trees that take a decade to get the size shown in the rendering.

[tower]

Collison said on twitter that that was a preliminary rendering, hopefully the final design will be better.

Edit:https://twitter.com/kckansascity/status ... 52100?s=03

[KCPowercat]

I kind of like keeping the building set back. Imagine the outdoor dining options you could out in there and still leave room for a wide pedestrian experience.

[TheLastGentleman]

I kind of like keeping the building set back. Imagine the outdoor dining options you could out in there and still leave room for a wide pedestrian experience.

Nothing wrong with a bit of a setback, but the current ~40ft setback is just excessive. Maybe a compromise could be buildings with arcades to match the other market buildings?



Maybe something along these lines?

[DaveKCMO]

Loving the trees and landscaping, but I still think it would be natural to build up to Walnut. Tower does have a point, that it's still going to be a long walk from building to building if it's not tightened up.

This is an old concept -- not even sure why they released it, but here we are. Confluence will be developing NEW concepts now that they're on the project. I suspect the median will not survive (because it's a bad idea and makes the street wider than it functionally needs to be).

[earthling]

Is the purpose of this to take load off Grand through same stretch? Mixed feelings...

[KCPowercat]

On it's face it seems like this is backwards from what we normally desire until you consider that during the week this is open to traffic to snake through the market for parking. So it's not really that big of a change and makes this more usable which yes can relieve some traffic on grand and Delaware.

Add in it can help the eastern building businesses and I think this is a win.

[rxlexi]

I suspect the median will not survive (because it's a bad idea and makes the street wider than it functionally needs to be).

This is a good point re: street width but I was pleasantly surprised by the median initially, as it looks like they retained the fountain (think that's what it is?) in the center. Don't think I've ever seen it running but that's a great spot for a signature KC fountain, especially with an improved streetscape and pedestrian experience around it. That plaza functions as a wonderful public square on summer/fall market days.

I agree opening Walnut sounds counter-intuitive at first, but with the setback on the east market buildings there is SO much space through that corridor, and the businesses in the east building feel a bit isolated from the rest of the complex. Nearby diagonal parking and better/more attractive access will be much appreciated there.

[shinatoo]

Why not curve the whole road to the east and eat up some of the wide plaza areas in front of the Arabia Museum, while preserving the fountain and the "public square"? Basically, keep all the traffic and parking to the east of the median in the current rendering.

[flyingember]

Why not curve the whole road to the east and eat up some of the wide plaza areas in front of the Arabia Museum, while preserving the fountain and the "public square"? Basically, keep all the traffic and parking to the east of the median in the current rendering.

The fountain is east of the museum building, this road would be west of it.

[shinatoo]

Why not curve the whole road to the east and eat up some of the wide plaza areas in front of the Arabia Museum, while preserving the fountain and the "public square"? Basically, keep all the traffic and parking to the east of the median in the current rendering.

The fountain is east of the museum building, this road would be west of it.

I was referring to relexi's post where he referenced the fountain in the median. For some reason, I had an existing fountain pictured there in my mind.

Edited: Why not curve the whole road to the east and eat up some of the wide plaza areas in front of the Arabia Museum, while preserving the "public square" in the rendered median area? Basically, keep all the traffic and parking to the east of the median in the current rendering.

[smh]

Isn't there a weird circle fountain thing right there in the middle of former Walnut St? It is a circle with holes in it.

[shinatoo]

Isn't there a weird circle fountain thing right there in the middle of former Walnut St? It is a circle with holes in it.

Yeah, I always thought there was, but no evidence on google maps.

Looking at Bing it shows the roundabout that use be at the south entrance. I think there used to be a fountain in middle. Google Earth Timeline confirms this. I'm not crazy!

Not a great place for a fountain though.