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By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net

If all goes according to plan, Summit Street will undergo a facelift in time for next fall's Last Run Car Show.

Construction on Phase 1 "streetscape" changes to Summit Street downtown would begin in May and be completed by the end of August, according to a schedule presented Thursday night.

"I think everyone's excited, and the possibility of having (the changes) done by the (Last Run) car show is tremendous," Bob Foster, owner of Foster's Furniture, said.

Foster and John Bryant, owner of Bryant Hardware Company, were two downtown merchants among the 40 people who attended the meeting, sponsored by the Arkansas City Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Phase 1 streetscape master plan is now completed, almost exactly a year after the first public meeting on design options was held in Ark City last February, said Jennifer Matey, an urban design and planning specialist at HNTB Corp.

HNTB is a Kansas City landscape architectural firm that designed the project with the help of Ark City civic leaders and local residents who attended a series of meetings since last February.

Design elements include parking angle, brick layout, street tree options and street layout.

Bryant said today he's not as positive about the changes as some other merchants.

Thursday night, he raised several potential problems related to street design changes: larger-diameter trees could block store signage; brick paver bands along sidewalk edges could become dangerously slick in bad weather; and bump-outs at intersections could cause large trucks to "cheat" when making turns from side streets, causing accidents.

The next step is to complete design and construction documents, Yazmin Wood, CEO of the local chamber of commerce, said. Documents are scheduled to be completed by early April.

Matey and her colleague, Scott Heavin, municipal roadway engineer and project manager for the Summit Street changes, presented an overview of Phase 1 construction, which will occur in an area on Summit Street including three blocks and four intersections, from Central Avenue to south to Adams Avenue.

* Install "bump-outs" at intersections. The bump-outs protect pedestrians by eliminating the potential for a car in the last parking stall to back into a crosswalk.

* Construct paver bands that incorporate bricks along the back of the curbs at intersections around all bump-outs and behind curbing in the middle of each block.

* Change the diagonal parking angle from the current 41 percent to either 37 percent or 33 percent. With the 37-percent option, the number of parking spaces per block will be reduced by two. With the 33-percent option, four parking spaces per block will be lost.

The 37-percent option would accommodate 19-foot vehicles in parking stalls, while the 33-percent option would accommodate 20.5-foot vehicles.

* Change cobra-head street lights to a tear-drop model. Keep pedestrian lights as they are, only moving them slightly as needed for street trees.

* Two types of trees will be planted: thornless honey locusts in the mid-block areas and lacebark elm at the intersections. These trees are "downtown-friendly" and grow tall enough to avoid blocking any store-front signage.

* Install one of two options for tree pits: a limestone chamfered edge or a concrete collar. The limestone chamfered edge is a more expensive option offering the advantage of a raised edge. It helps protect from pedestrians walking into a mulch bed in the pit. But the concrete collar is flush to the sidewalk.

Mayor Wayne Short said that the city would have construction companies bid both options before a decision is made on which type of tree pit is used.

Wood said Phase 1 construction should take place from early May through the end of August, and the project should be complete in time for the Last Run Car Show, held on the fourth weekend in September.

"This has been a very important process for the community, allowing people to express their concerns each step of the way," Wood said.

The bulk of the funding for improving street design related to pedestrian and motorist safety will be provided by the Kansas Department of Transportation, Curt Freeland, Ark City's city manager, said at a previous streetscape meeting.

Under the City's $2 million contract with KDOT, once the U.S. 77 Bypass is completed, streets branching from the state highway system will be turned back to the city for improvement work.