On Friday, architecture students from Drury University provided their ideas on how to revamp the downtown area of Webb City, Mo.
The Joplin Globe reported:
The Drury students have envisioned turning the Main Street and Highway 171 junction into a key welcoming entrance to draw cars into downtown. Further on, the group is toying with the idea of a roundabout and green space/park area near City Hall to provide a transitional section into the downtown shop area. A similar transitional space would buffer the commercial/industrial part of downtown from the residential part of North Main Street.
In between the transitional spaces, the group envisions an “urban village” feel that has the intensity of a city with the intimacy of a village. To accomplish that, they recommend the city widen its sidewalks, connect the different parts of downtown and add landscaping and benches.
In the middle of the “urban village,” the students want to play up the junction of Route 66 and Main Street with a decorative Route 66 medallion inset in the road and a concentration of Route 66-related services. The four- to five-block area around that intersection could become an entertainment destination point for festivals, car shows and theatrical presentations.
Garrott said emphasizing Webb City’s Route 66 heritage could bring in tourists as well as identify some sources of funding to renovate buildings along the historic road.
A lot of interesting ideas. We’ll see what the city does with it when the final plan is finished in May.