The new four-way intersection at Kentucky Avenue opened up this week, and work on the $1.75 million road improvement project along Highway 92 in Platte City appears to be well ahead of schedule.
Phase III of construction started earlier than expected, meaning Running Horse Road will be closed at the intersection with 92 as soon as Kentucky Avenue opens, creating a new entrance point for customers of QuikTrip and McDonald’s. Running Horse will be closed for five to 10 days, tentatively scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
According to the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) contractor, work could continue through the weekend, limiting the closure to about five days. The intersection could reopen as soon as Monday or Tuesday, Aug. 15 or 16.
While the Running Horse intersection is closed the detour for northbound traffic on Running Horse will be to turn west on Platte Falls Road and north on Kentucky Avenue to access Highway 92. The detour for traffic turning southbound onto Running Horse from Highway 92 will be to continue west on Highway 92, then south on Kentucky Avenue and east on Platte Falls Road.
After work at the Running Horse Road intersection is completed, MoDOT will close NW Prairie View Road to complete work on that side of the road. Work started on the project in May of this year with a tentative schedule of 180 days.
Currently, the contract allows work to continue until November 1, but the work schedule shows completion on Oct. 15. However, Platte City officials say that timeline could actually end in September, cutting nearly 60 days off the initial estimates.
In addition to extending Kentucky Avenue turning the private drive between QuikTrip and McDonald’s into a city road, the project aims to reconstruct Highway 92 and reduce a troublesome superelevation.
Lane reductions will continue on Highway 92 through the duration of the project, but a four lane portion will fully reopen on both sides of the Kentucky Avenue intersection.
In addition to the roadwork, QuikTrip plans to build a new store on its current property. A site plan submitted to the Platte City Planning and Zoning Commission in June revealed a design that will put the new building facing toward Highway 92, replacing the current store that faces Prairie View Road. The footprint of the QuikTrip plaza will not increase, but the new layout should help better accommodate the high volume of traffic the store receives.
The Platte City location is commonly known as the company’s busiest in the Kansas City metro area, but traffic congestion along Prairie View Road might have prevented customers from accessing QuikTrip and the neighboring McDonald’s. With the new access point at Kentucky Avenue, City of Platte City officials believe traffic patterns will improve, although the adjustment could take time.
All car traffic generally flows through the store’s two entry points on Prairie View Road, but with the new building now facing west instead of east, the easier access point for general car traffic could be from the new intersection at Kentucky and Highway 92. There will be a right-hand merge lane onto and off of Kentucky Avenue at Highway 92 that will allow drivers to turn without coming to the signalized portion of the intersection.
Tractor trailers will likely continue to access the facilities from the northern edge but will now be able to exit through the Kentucky Avenue intersection, allowing more space to orient before merging back onto Interstate 29.
The scales, pumps and parking for tractor trailers will be shifted from the west to the east side.
Existing structures, canopies, weigh scale, pumps and underground tanks will be removed to make way for all new facilities. The existing QuikTrip store is not expected to close at all during the estimated eight-month construction period, but final plans have not been submitted at this time.