KCRag Forum

KCNorthlander wrote:I am mostly disappointed they are ignoring 435 near WOF because that gets congested a lot, especially on busy WOF days or Chiefs games.

It's not being ignored, it's just not in the first phase. KC Scout is gonna be a big system, and it can't built all at once.

http://kdot1.ksdot.org/public/kdot/kcme ... Scout1.pdf

The first phase of the KC Scout is the largest single ITS project ever built in the Nation in one phase. It is already going to be expanded through Blue Springs along with the I-70 reconstruction project.

The next phases should come soon after the first phase. KC will have one of the most advanced ITS systems in the country in the first phase alone.

Photo of one of the VMS signs along I-435

dangerboy wrote: It's not being ignored, it's just not in the first phase. KC Scout is gonna be a big system, and it can't built all at once.

That's cool. Are the signs working yet? I'm driving up to Gladstone from here on Friday, so I guess I'll see if the ones on I-35 are on yet.

Speaking of, are there any new developments anywhere in the city that I should check out while I'm there? Last time I was in KC was mid Dec.

I agree and disagree. First of all Lee's Summit get's the respect that it deserves at least from Missourians. Second of all previous comments about the major corridors in the future will be 435 south, 470 southeast and I-29 north I'm in agreement with. But you better include the I-35 corridor and no not in the Olathe area but in Clay county especially northeast of Claycomo. You won't even recognize the 152 & I-35 corridor in 5 years and MO-291 is next. Retail follows rooftops. KCMO in Clay County cleared almost 1,100 permits in September alone while Lee's Summit did around 650. I do like middle to upper end subdivisions in Lee's Summit though. They're mostly Winterset-esque who was the trailblazer IMO.

Speaking only by current growth, I would say that until OP runs out of land, Lees Summit won't catch up. Lees Summit is somewhere near 70,000 and OP is near 160,000. This is a lot of ground to make up. The whole demographics thing means nothing to me, since I live in a city where supposedly nobody can afford anything.

My hope is that we stop worrying about how great our suburbs are, and instead focus on the city.

I don't think population has much to do with it.

It's a feverish race between OP and LS, to see who can make the most inefficient use of land possible, and with as much land as possible.

Keep on exhaustin' folks!

I think it is also about general attitude. I would say right now, that OP is so large that an affiliation is held more to the city of Overaland Park than to its role in the metro. When Lee's Summit is blinded so much by its own growth that it fails to see its greater role and humble beginnings, then it will become "the next OP."