City Council meeting focuses on pedestrian safety

JOPLIN, Mo. — Joplin City Council is now pursuing a plan to add a crosswalk near “Joplin High School”.

The move comes after a high school student approached council members about safety concerns for students crossing 20th Street.

The decision was made to start accepting bids from contractors.

The hope is to have it in place this summer.

It will cross 20th Street, between the high school and an alley near “Sunny Jim Park.”

The recommended plan also includes a pedestrian refuge island and added signage and signals for drivers.

“I think that this will get a lot of usage, and that’s important to us. Motorists will get used to it, I think it will really improve safety,” said Dan Johnson, Director Of Public Works, City Of Joplin.

City officials observed students crossing 20th Street, and noted there’s quite a bit of foot traffic, in fact, an average of 50 students cross the street on Friday afternoons.

Another topic discussed at tonight’s meeting involved the re-authorization of a yearly grant agreement between the city and the “Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.”

It’s done every year to continue operating the “MAPS” curb-to-curb public transit.

Due to a shortage of drivers, the “Sunshine Lamp Trolley” will soon be suspended until further notice.

Riders will now be referred to “MAPS” for public transportation services.

“But, what we’re doing is we’re moving some amount of that funding and services over to the MAPS system. As we sort out the Trolley program, we will still utilize those resources over the next fiscal year for the MAPS bussing,” said Tony Robyn, Assistant City Manager.

The trolley service will start reducing operations on November 28th, that’s next Monday.

“MAPS” will offer an added route and also add another bus.

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