The revitalization of Dodge City's historic downtown is an essential part of the Dodge City STAR Bond project. This project focuses on the streetscape and infrastructure improvements along Front Street from 3rd Avenue to Central Avenue.
The existing 50-year-old streetscape and the 100-plus year-old brick streets and utilities are well beyond their useful life and it shows to residents and visitors alike. The Downtown has been a regional and international draw, but its current condition has hampered economic development and tourism. In addition, with the recent expansion of Boot Hill Museum, Dodge City is seeing an influx of visitors but unfortunately the downtown is not meeting the expectations of visitors or Dodge Citians.
The community, including downtown businesses have been engaged throughout the project and provided feedback through an online survey in both English and Spanish as well as stakeholder and community engagement sessions.
The public response to the downtown streetscape project has been overwhelmingly positive and in the Dodge City 2030, Comprehensive Plan, Planning for tomorrow, 92% of the public said strengthening the downtown was important to them and 91% said the City should be involved in revitalizing the downtown.
The Phases of the Streetscape project include:
Front Street-Central Avenue to 3rd Avenue
Central from Wyatt Earp to Vine Street
2nd Ave. from Wyatt Earp to Gunsmoke
3rd Avenue from Wyatt Earp to Gunsmoke
1st Ave. from Wyatt Earp to Gunsmoke
After a competitive request for qualifications (RFQ) process, TranSystems and LK Architecture were contracted for the project for the design phase and Building Solutions was selected as the construction manager at risk for the project.
In May 2021, Governor Laura Kelly and Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary Julie Lorenz announced that Dodge City was one of the 30 transportation construction projects across Kansas to be awarded funds from the 2021 Spring KDOT Cost Share grant. The City of Dodge City will receive $2,000,000 to support the Downtown Streetscape Project to be put towards the project's construction phase
The project's total cost estimate is $13,920,660 with $8,271,944 of funding secured between STAR Bonds revenues, American Recovery Act funds, and the KDOT Cost Share Grant. City staff is working on additional grant applications to dedicate to the project.
