Long-awaited Waldo street project gets approval

By Kathy Feist

Plans for improvements along 75th and Wornall finally got the go ahead December 15 when Mayor Quinton Lucas signed the $14 million 75th and Wornall Road Improvements ordinance that will upgrade roads, sidewalks, street lighting, and enclose 75th and Broadway. 

Construction will begin this month and is estimated to be completed 18 months later. A January 17th luncheon at HJ’s Community Center will outline the upcoming plans.

The overall project will include a complete reconstruction of Wornall Road between 74th and 79th streets, an extension of the Trolley Track Trail to 75th Street, safer pedestrian pathways with new LED streetlights, landscaping to help with stormwater management and enclosure of 75th and Broadway. 

The first phase of the project will start with the parking lots at 75th and Broadway. Plans include installation of underground detention and sewer piping, construction of retaining walls, paving, curbs and sidewalks, according to the city’s construction phase map. 

The Wornall Road reconstruction plan was first introduced in 2015. While most of Wornall Road has been reconstructed or paved since 2015, the stretch from 79th Street to 74th Street has remained untouched. That delay was due to one national retailer slow to agree on a right of way contract with the city. By the time the contract was signed last year, all other right of way contracts had expired. The process had to begin again, however this time more quickly. 

Road construction over the next two years will coincide with the construction of the 300-unit Waldo74Broadway apartment complex planned for 7421 Broadway. “Everything is going to be torn up,” said Waldo CID Executive Director Chelsea Kaplan in a previous interview with The Telegraph. “But when it’s done it’s going to be nice and a much needed improvement for a high traffic road.”