Brace For Construction: Maguire Street Is Going To Be Messy

The long process of The Maguire Street Corridor Project, now known as Rethink Maguire, is about to kick into high gear.

A decade ago the City of Warrensburg began the long process of transforming the Maguire Street Corridor which connects Highway 50 to the University of Central Missouri and well, a large part of the City.

The City started the process by securing grants, getting voters to approve a bond initiative to pay for the project, and obtaining a grant to develop a Safety Action Plan.

Now the City is engaging city residents, businesses, and stakeholders in crafting a vision for the improvements needed to update Maguire Street from Cooper Boulevard north of the Highway interchange to Broad Street. Part of that process is the Rethink Maguire Website and Facebook page.

According to the City's anticipated timeline, community engagement should wrap up mid-summer, as should the design phase of the project.

In February, the Warrensburg City Council approved Capital Paving & Construction to complete the Maguire Street corridor improvements from Young Street to Broad Street. These initial improvements will address access management throughout the corridor and modernize traffic signals to improve safety and traffic flow.

Additionally, the contractor will enhance the aesthetics by establishing green spaces, widening sidewalks, reducing visual clutter, and creating opportunities for landscaping. The City chose these points of focus based on more than 1,000 comments from businesses, property owners, residents, and stakeholders.

Currently, the City of Warrensburg has a short survey residents can take to help the City better connect with residents and business owners throughout construction, and they have also scheduled an open house on May 23 from 5:00 PM -7:00 PM at the Community Center on Gay Street where community members can learn more about the design plans for the project.

Additionally, community members will see surveyors at various locations as they identify locations for underground utilities. Capital Paving will have crews inspecting the sanitary sewers on Oak, Emerson, North, and Courtland Streets west of Maguire.

This is just the start of the project that will renew and replace the infrastructure assets along the corridor, rethink the interchange at Highway 50, add pedestrian and bicycling connections, address stormwater collection issues west of Maguire between Young and North Streets, and more.

For more information, community members can visit the Rethink Maguire website and Facebook page.