MainCor and the City have begun working on a new streetscape project to improve the appearance of Main Street through Midtown and make it safer and more inviting for pedestrians. At the moment they are installing red faux-brick crosswalks at several locations. Unfortunately, this construction is blocking access for the pedestrians it’s ultimately meant to serve.
The photo above as the intersection of Main Street and Linwood Boulevard. Construction is blocking both sides of the street, which leaves pedestrians with no alternative route and is something that is supposed to be against City policy. The situation is especially critical at Linwood and Main because there is MAX bus station right there, plus a big residential population and the Cristo Rey High School.
While there are the regular “Sidewalk Closed” signs, there are now signs directing pedestrians to an alternate route and no temporary walkways through the construction zone. Able-bodied people can probably navigate around the big holes in the ground and dodge traffic, but anyone who is blind or in a wheelchair is just plain screwed.
This is an especially ironic example of how too often pedestrian (and bicycle) access is forgotten during construction projects, even when the construction project is for pedestrian infrastructure.
A recent Business Journal story includes ridership numbers for local bus routes, information that isn’t publicly available from the KCATA itself. Some routes are approaching the levels of ridership seen on rail systems in other cities. The #25 Troost route tops the list with 7,800 riders on an average weekday, only 1,000 fewer than Portland’s Streetcar. The #71 Prospect comes in second with 5,200 riders a day and the MAX is third with almost 4,000.
Considering that Main Street MAX boosted ridership in its corridor over 50%, it’s conceivable that Troost MAX could push ridership over 10,000 when it opens later this year.
This month there are two opportunities to support elected officials who are supportive of the transportation choices that make our city more livable and competitive. KCMO Councilmembers Jan Marcason and Cindy Circo are holding fund raisers for their re-election campaigns.
Cindy Circo – Tuesday, June 15th – 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Parisi Coffee, 710 West 24th Street
Councilmember Circo represents the 5th District At-Large, which means the whole city votes for her office. She has been a strong supporter of transportation choices on the Council’s Planning and Zoning Committee, where she helped to make sure the new development code required bicycling parking and traffic impact analysis for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. Councilmember Circo has participated in Bike Week events and the KCATA’s Dump the Pump Day. If you can’t attend, you can send a check to “Citizens for Circo”, 4923 Harkness Ave, KCMO 64136.
Jan Marcason – Monday June 28th - 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Westport Flea Market, 817 Westport Road
Councilmember Marcason holds the 4th District’s in-district seat and was most recently a strong voice on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is the committee that hears many of our issues. She has participated in several Bike Week events, including three years in a row at the Ride of Silence and bicycling to work at City Hall a few times. If you can’t attend, you can donate online at www.jan4kc.com.
The City is getting ready for an extreme makeover of Chouteau Trafficway, turning it into Chouteau Parkway between Route 210 and I-35. At this time the plan includes great bike/ped accommodations - both on-street bike lanes and a multi-use trail. This will be a great bike route since it continues the facilities planned for the Chouteau Bridge over the Missouri River and connects to the east/west bike route planned for Parvin Road. There is a public meeting this week where you can learn more about the project and express your support for the bike/ped elements.
Chouteau Trafficway public meeting
Thursday, May 13th, 5:30 p.m – 7:00 p.m.
Chouteau Elementary School
3701 North Jackson Ave, KCMO 64117 (map/directions)
Some key points
Support the bike lanes and multi-use trail
Support future extension of the bike lanes and trail north to Antioch Road
There will be a gap in the bike lanes and trail between the Chouteau Bridge and Route 210. Please express your support finding funds to close this gap between the two projects.
Fred Kent, President of the Project for Public Spaces, will be the keynote speaker at two local events this week. PPP is a national leader in encouraging the development of high quality urban public spaces that foster community building and economic development. Both events have an admission fee, but are great opportunities to learn from an expert.
Regional Symposium on Place Making Thursday, May 6th, 2:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Liberty Memorial’s J.C. Nichol’s Auditorium Ochsner Hare and Hare planning and landscape architects present this event in honor of the firms 100th anniversary. (The Liberty Memorial was a project of the original Hare & Hare firm).
Building Community, Creating Places and Sustaining Neighborhoods
Friday, May 7th, 8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Powell Community Center, Mission, KS This even is part of the Mid-America Regional Council’s Academy for Sustainable Communities, an ongoing lecture series.
On May 16th, Kansas City’s successful Car Free Weekends on Cliff Drive will expand onto the streets of the Old Northeast neighborhoods for a full-fledged Ciclovia called Sunday Parkways along Gladstone Boulevard and the Indian Mound.
Following the lead of Bogotá, Columbia, cities around the world have begun regularly closing streets to automobile traffic and opening them to people. In Bogota they call it Ciclovia, and in other cities they use names like Sunday Parkways, Summer Street, Open Streets, etc.
The streets will be filled with people walking, bicycling, jogging, skating, etc.; and family-friendly activities like yoga, face painting, live music, food vendors, puppets, a dog show, bike skills clinics, and much more. The Parks Department and the City’s Bike/Ped program home to expand Sunday Parkways to include all six Council Districts and run monthly from May to October.
This could be a first for local politics. Former KC Area Transportation Authority executive director Dick Davis is running for the 1st District City Council seat now held by the term-limited Bill Skaggs. Dick also directed the Mid-America Regional Council in the 1970s, so he has experience in regional planning as well as transit. The 1st District includes most of the Clay County part of KCMO and the Old Northeast neighborhoods north of Independence Ave.
While we aren’t making an endorsement, we thought it would be interesting to pass along that he has a kickoff fundraiser tonight – 5:30-7:30 p.m. at Chappell’s in North Kansas City (323 Armour/210, 3 blocks east of Burlington/North Oak).
The Missouri General Assembly has approved a one-time boost in aid to the KC Area Transit Authority. While the final amount is not yet clear, the boost will help offset declining revenues in the transit sales tax and the diversion of funds by the KC City Council to other uses.
The House has allocated $5 million for the ATA in the 2010-2011 budget, while the Senate has allocated $2 million. The matter will now go to conference committee where the two houses will negotiate a compromise amount.
Let’s Go KC partner KC Light Rail is in Chicago this weekend for the Midwest High Speed Rail annual meeting. Follow @kclightrail on Twitter for live updates from the conference.
The Center for Neighborhood Technology has just updated their Housing+Transportation Affordability Index. It shows that Kansas Citians continue to spend more on transportation than on housing. We spend 33% of our household income on transportation, and just 23% on housing. Only Tampa and Pittsburgh spend as much on transportation as we do. (See CNT”s Penny Wise, Pound Fuelish). This is especially true in parts of the area where housing and jobs are far apart and transit is absent.
On the left is a map of housing costs as a percent of household income. On the right is the same map with transportation costs figured in. When transportation is considered, the location of affordable housing significantly shrinks to areas close to where most jobs are located.
That $130,000 starter house in Kearney or Gardner really isn’t so affordable when you factor in the cost of commuting to employment centers like Downtown or College Boulevard.
Try it out for yourself. You can zoom in to specific neighborhoods and look at other maps like transit access, employment, CO2 footprint, etc.
