By Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com
Residents may get a look at the preliminary design for widening Maiden Lane from Ninth Street to 30th Street at an open house today.
Plans for the street construction and for storm-water drainage work along the street will be on display, and city engineers will be available to answer questions from 4 to 6 p.m. in the basement conference room of City Hall, 602 S. Main St.
Residents and business owners along Maiden Lane will see how the project will affect their properties, said Jack Schaller, assistant public works director.
“We have drawings to show the properties and the proposed right of way, so people can come and talk about their properties, see what we’re taking, and what the finished product is going to look like,” Schaller said.
Funding for two phases of right-of-way acquisition and for design of the projects is budgeted this year. The budget includes $157,500 for the portion from Ninth Street to 17th Street, and the same amount for the portion from 20th Street to 30th Street.
Construction on at least one phase will be finished next year, Schaller said.
The street is to be widened from four lanes to five. The open-channel, storm-water drainage ditch along a portion of Maiden Lane near 20th Street will be closed.
A storm-water drainage culvert that crosses Maiden Lane at about 29th Street will be replaced, said David Hertzberg, public works director. The channel will be enlarged and redesigned for faster flow.
Widening of the street will cost $4.5 million. Closing the open drainage channel will cost $600,000, and replacing the drainage culvert at 29th Street will cost $700,000.
The work is being financed with some of the proceeds from a three-eighths-cent sales tax for capital projects that voters approved in 2004. Hertzberg said the project is one from a list that was pledged to voters when the tax was proposed.
Project questions
People who have questions about the Maiden Lane widening project may contact Public Works Director David Hertzberg at 624-0820, ext. 500, or the assistant director, Jack Schaller, at ext. 531.
