After more than a year of construction, the City’s Fassnight Creek Stormwater Improvement Project at the Springfield Art Museum is complete and Brookside Drive reopened to through traffic.
“We’re excited to finish this project and thankful to the contractor, Art Museum and to the neighborhood for working with us throughout construction,” said Project Manager Kirkland Preston. “So far it is encouraging to see that the project is already performing well under periods of heavy rain. As native plantings continue to establish, we hope to see the full flood reduction and water quality benefits of this project to the art museum and surrounding properties.”
As one project wraps up, two additional art museum master plan-related projects continue to progress.
Improvements to the art museum’s parking lot were originally scheduled for completion in June. However, due to weather delays and additional work added to the scope of the project, completion is now expected by late August.
“We made a few tweaks to the design during construction which have extended the timeline a bit,” said Project Manager Kim Diehls. “We added in construction of a walkway to the south of the lot to coordinate with the upcoming trail project and also redesigned the driveway exit to help with traffic on Kings Street.”
The parking lot project involves the relocation of parking to the north side of the art museum property and adding additional green space to the amphitheater. In addition to expanded parking, improvements include enhanced access to the Museum grounds through trails and walkways, improved lighting and the reconstruction of the amphitheater wing walls. Attractive landscaping including native plantings will be included as well as stormwater management features.
The final stages of the parking lot project are expected to coordinate closely with the beginning of construction on a multi-use trail connection through Phelps Grove Park. The connection will begin at Clay Avenue, continue east through Phelps Grove Park and end at Brookside Drive near the art museum main entrance. The new 1,600-linear-foot path will include a bike repair station, ADA ramps and will connect to shared bike lanes on Brookside Drive over a new pedestrian bridge.
The project is anticipated to bid out this summer with construction expected in the fall. It will be funded through federal Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grants with the City funding a 20% match through the 1/8-cent Transportation Sales Tax.
For more information on the project and to subscribe to receive regular email updates, visit springfieldmo.gov/samstormwater.