Capping the Loop

[Cratedigger]

I understand the fears about affecting streetcar performance with closing one or both of Baltimore and Walnut, however it seems like basically no one uses those streets today. At "rush hour" and other busy times of the day you will find Main Street choked with traffic and slowing the streetcar, but you can go one block over in either direction and it's like a ghost town (especially Baltimore). Drivers have had six or seven years now to adjust their behaviors and it just hasn't happened.

I would like to see Walnut closed at minimum as part of this project.

Keep Grand open and it's a deal.

I prefer the park layout with Baltimore closed. But for how often walnut is closed anyway for concerts in the living room, closing walnut makes sense

[Chris Stritzel]

I’m at this meeting. Concept rendering boards focus on the eastern superblock (close Walnut) concept. If they can pull it off as rendered, it’ll be a lively place.

[neurosyphilis]

Any other updates?

[TheUrbanRoo]

It seemed to me like they’re definitely closing Walnut and this is just a matter of whether they are also going to close Baltimore too or not.

Also, the park activation looks incredible. One of a kind!

[Chris Stritzel]

Park activation will decently be top-notch if they can pull this off as presented. I'm still partial to closing Baltimore. Next public meeting will be later this fall. Based on the timeline, they want to start late next year and open in time for the World Cup.











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Renderings...

[KCPowercat]

thanks for the pics. They hopefully will update the site soon.

I just don't get the closing Walnut. Baltimore is literally dead all the time right now. It makes no sense to keep that open if you are thinking of closing roads over 670. It would also be more interesting with the elevation change to close the western side.

Also they have to figure out S Truman / Baltimore better than it currently is (obviously) and what is shown in these renderings which is nothing more than dropping a couple trees in the dead zone.

Lastly I hope they address (or we hear from kcstreetcar directly) that they are comfortable with traffic patterns not impacting streetcar.

[missingkc]

Thanks for posting all this, Chris. If this is executed anything like what's presented here, I think it will forever change people's perception of downtown.

[TheUrbanRoo]

Thanks for posting all this, Chris. If this is executed anything like what's presented here, I think it will forever change people's perception of downtown.

Honestly after seeing the video rendering and details now I think it could be on par or greater than impact from the Royals going to EV

[Chris Stritzel]

Thanks for posting all this, Chris. If this is executed anything like what's presented here, I think it will forever change people's perception of downtown.

Honestly after seeing the video rendering and details now I think it could be on par or greater than impact from the Royals going to EV

Both would have huge, and positive, impacts on downtown.

Regarding the Streetcar, I think that if they roll with closing Walnut, it won’t bother service that much. Walnut doesn’t get much traffic as-is and if they’re relying on Baltimore to handle an influx in traffic, it’s possible that Streetcar service won’t be affected. Grand does need to be kept open anyways, but it can be overhauled to prevent stunts from occurring.

They talked a lot about turning Truman Road South into a narrower street with personal mobility lanes and landscaping.

[KCPowercat]

Their own boards said it would impact streetcar. It may be able to be mitigated though
https://twitter.com/pcarn9/status/1704292872034336914

[Chris Stritzel]

Even in that case, they mention the closure of Grand. Success is dependent on closing a street within the park and keeping Grand open. Converting 13th to two way would also minimally help.

[KCPowercat]

Even in that case, they mention the closure of Grand. Success is dependent on closing a street within the park and keeping Grand open. Converting 13th to two way would also minimally help.

Definitely keep Grand open and Walnut is more palatable. The value of closing Grand also looks like it goes away as the pavilion space can be used for those events in the park.

[alejandro46]

Is that a playground/aerial walk thing like a slide? Looks really great. Closing Walnut is fine but Main needs to be made like an optional Transit only corridor during certain times, like big events that will clog main with cars.

[alejandro46]

Thanks for posting all this, Chris. If this is executed anything like what's presented here, I think it will forever change people's perception of downtown.

Honestly after seeing the video rendering and details now I think it could be on par or greater than impact from the Royals going to EV

This should make the royals want to come downtown even more.

[WoodDraw]

Lastly I hope they address (or we hear from kcstreetcar directly) that they are comfortable with traffic patterns not impacting streetcar.

They’re very much not comfortable with it.

I haven’t formed my thoughts completely yet, but as of now I think it’s the wrong choice. It feels like a cordish park instead of a rethinking of this space. And a little gift to Loews.

These streets were all a bit fucked this past weekend. I didn't see any thought from the city or cordish in changing their street policies. It seems to be an exceptionally poorly thought out plan without further changes.

The programming I don't trust at this point. It's just made up until we get later.

I think this project has largely lost the plot and should go back to first principles and not we have money we need to spend.

[KCPowercat]

Have we heard that officially from the streetcar authority?

[moderne]

Still only a quarter of the funding secured? Will they do only a block at a time while trying to get funding for the rest?

[beautyfromashes]

Holy tree farm!

[TheSmokinPun]

I'd much rather have this, that could change the way everyone looks at downtown, than what we have now. Sure, we need to make sure Cordish doesn't treat it like a private park & figure out some of the road kinks, but this would be a big gamechanger.

[TheUrbanRoo]

Still only a quarter of the funding secured? Will they do only a block at a time while trying to get funding for the rest?

No, they have half of it secured out of $200 mil. They also have $76 mil in pending requests that they’ll get clarity on in the coming weeks as well.