Joplin plans improvements to 4th and Murphy Boulevard intersection

JOPLIN, Mo. – The City of Joplin hosted a public meeting to go over improvements they plan to make to the intersection of 4th and Murphy Boulevard.

City officials say they plan to put in new lights at the four-way stop. The number of lanes is also changing. It’s currently a four-lane road, but now will be a two-lane road with a center turn lane and a bike lane.

“It is exciting to see this one finally moving forward,” said traffic engineer Dakota Rusk. “Murphy Boulevard is a popular route for people going to work and leaving work, so I think ultimately it should improve the quality of peoples commute into and out of town.”

Work on the intersection will begin summer of 2022 and is expected to finish later that year. The changes will be funded by the capital improvement sales tax.

Kansas City Southern exits CP deal to take CNI’s $34 billion

NEW YORK (AP) – Kansas City Southern has abandoned its agreement to be acquired by Canadian Pacific, choosing instead a competing bid from Canadian National Railway with a bigger price tag, but also greater regulatory risks.

The decision Friday comes one day after Canadian Pacific said that it wasn’t budging from its initial $25 billion buyout agreement made in March, even after Kansas City Southern said that a richer $33.6 billion bid from Canadian National appeared to be superior.

Canadian Pacific has consistently argued that a tie-up between Kansas City and Canadian National would have trouble getting approved by antitrust regulators and as recently as Thursday, said that it would not boost its original offer. Canadian Pacific has asserted that their combination with Kansas City Southern is most likely to get a green light from regulators.

U.S. regulators haven’t approved any major railroad mergers since the 1990s, and officials have said that any deal involving one of the handful of Class 1 railroads, a group that includes Kansas City Southern, must enhance competition and serve the public interest.

While Kansas City Southern is the smallest of the major railroads operating in the U.S., it controls key routes that connect the U.S. and Mexico, making it a very desirable prize and a potential antitrust hazard for a competing railroad that wants to own it.

The Surface Transportation Board has said it would consider whether any deal would destabilize the industry and induce more mergers. The board adopted tough rules for major railroad mergers after service problems developed after railroad mergers in the 1990s.

Kansas City Southern said for each share of its common stock, shareholders will get $200 in cash and 1.129 shares of Canadian National common stock. Kansas City Southern shares were up slightly Friday morning, to $295.62 per share.

In a letter to regulators Friday, Canadian Pacific said that it intended to proceed with its application for its approval to control Kansas City Southern based on its agreement from March.

Parsons man killed in a wreck while passing another vehicle

LABETTE COUNTY, Kan. – A Parsons, Kansas man dies in a wreck in rural Labette County Friday morning.

Kansas Highway Patrol says it happed at 7:35 a.m. at 9000 and Ness Rd about 4.5 miles south of U-160. 25-year-old Axzivian Cummings of Parsons was passing another vehicle at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his car. The car hit the ditch, collided with two utility poles, rotated counter clockwise, rolled multiple times and came to rest in a field.

Cummings was pronounced dead at the scene.

Part of Elk St. in Carthage will close next week as crews build roundabout

CARTHAGE, Mo. – Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) will close Elk St. and Garrison Ave. at the five-way intersection at Fairlawn Ave. (Missouri Route 571) in Carthage for the construction of a roundabout. The closure will begin the week of March 8.

MoDOT says there will not be any signed detours. Drivers should find alternate routes.

This work is part of a project to build a new roundabout at the five-way intersection of Elk Street/Fairlawn Ave./Garrison Ave. along with ADA improvements and resurfacing of Missouri Route 571 between Fairview Ave. and I-49.

Contractors expect work to finish by November 1, 2021.

Woman killed after vehicle went airborne crossing railroad tracks

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kan. – A Columbus, Kansas woman is dead following a wreck Sunday.

According to Kansas Highway Patrol it happened at 12:00 p.m. on Northwest Bethlehem Road about six miles west of K-7. 54-year-old Pamela White was traveling west when her vehicle went airborne while crossing railroad tracks. After landing, police say the vehicle went off the road striking a tree.

White was pronounced dead at the scene.