Outstanding Student Project
Northwest Bell Road Complete Streets Proposal
NW Bell Road in the City of Parkville, Missouri, is a 0.9-mile long two-lane corridor with significant improvement potential. The senior Urban Planning and Design studio at UMKC collaborated with the City to develop a proposal for the corridor’s future. The process involved a comprehensive analysis of the corridor’s existing conditions and a review of the City’s plans, including the Parkville Master Plan 2040. For the corridor’s future development, the project adopted the complete streets concept to create safe corridor environments for all road users. The proposal in this report includes recommended future land use and road improvements along the corridor. The roadway improvements includes a complete streets design, roundabouts, and green infrastructure.
Award of Merit: Fair Play Vision Plan
The project was conducted during the Spring 2022 semester and is a visioning plan for a small community in Southwest Missouri, Fair Play. The visioning plan was developed by seven undergraduate students who are either Planning majors, minors, or in our certificate program.
Like much of rural America, many small communities in Missouri are struggling with an out-migration of population, in addition to economic and social opportunities. With a population of about 500, Fair Play has struggled to develop such opportunities for residents and a clear vision for the future. Furthermore, the community has struggled with aging infrastructure such as out-of-date water and sanitation systems and roads. The plan created by MSU students addresses these concerns. It lays the foundation for the future creation of a comprehensive play through the creation of an initial vision. Students then developed realistic goals and policies so that the community might best tackle their largest issues, including aging infrastructure. Students analyzed current conditions and gathered background data; developed, distributed, and analyzed community survey results; led a community input session which involved several interactive charrettes; formatted, wrote, and edited the plan document; and finally, presented the final plan to the Fair Play community.
