The recent death of a KCK girl at her bus stop underscores the need for sidewalks in many metro area neighborhoods that were built in the 1950s through the 1970s, when when many local cities didn’t require developers to include sidewalks.  For example, west-central KCK, Waldo and the inner Northland in KCMO, and parts of Raytown, Independence, and northeast Johnson County all lack curbs and sidewalks.

In KCK,  a sales tax proposal on the April 13th ballot would include some funds to help property owners install new sidewalks. Residents in the dead child’s neighborhood are asking for the pragmatic step of starting with sidewalks near schools and bus stops. The Safe Routes to School program provides grants to cities and school districts for things like sidewalks.

In KCMO, Mayor Mark Funkhouser’s Schools First initiative would focus on sidewalks around schools.  Unfortunately it’s getting a cool reception from the City Council, including some Councilmembers who are normally very supportive of pedestrian issues.

Another troubling development in KCMO are efforts by Northland real estate developers to kill the city’s requirement for sidewalks on both sides of the street in new developments.

Fox 4: Bus stop tragedy focuses attention on sales tax.

KCK sales tax proposal.

KCMO Schools First initiative.

Let’s Go KC is asking KCMO citizens to speak up for funding maintenance of trails, bike lanes, bike racks, etc.  The city has finally started investing in these facilities, but has yet to budget for ongoing repair and upkeep.

With the 2010-2011 city budget under review this month, now is the time to let City Councilmembers know that it is important to maintain these new investments.

Send a letter and/or attend a public budget hearing.

Check out this great article from the Washington Post on the problems that seniors are facing as they become too old to drive and find themselves becoming virtual shut-ins in the car-dependent suburbs. The narrowing of transportation options has a direct impact on the livability of their communities.

The generation that gave birth to suburbia and the two-car garage is reaching the age at which driving, for many, no longer seems like such a swell option…. “The concern is that when they no longer can drive, they will find themselves trapped in their homes in suburban neighborhoods where there are no sidewalks, or, if there are sidewalks, there’s no place to walk to”

While specific to the Washington, DC metro area, it certainly applies to Kansas City.  Seniors in KC are in an even tougher situation since our region lacks the suburban public transit network present in DC.  They also have many more walkable suburban town centers with services like groceries, doctors, shops, etc. in close proximity.

KC seniors who want to remain independent without driving are mostly limited to the Downtown/Plaza/Brookside corridor.  While there are a few fledgling possibilities in the suburbs (e.g. Zona Rosa, Downtown Lee’s Summit, or Prairie Village), these areas are islands unto themselves and lack the full range of services for shopping, health care, and entertainment.  Grocery stores and hospitals are usually beyond walking distance of even the best suburban downtown district.

Reforming our land use policies to encourage development of more mixed-use suburban town centers would give suburban seniors better options for “aging in place” in the communities where they have lived for decades.   Linking these suburban town centers with public transit would give seniors mobility around the metro area. People shouldn’t be uprooted from their existing social networks simply because they stop driving.

So far most efforts to dig out from the 2009 Christmas blizzard have focused on clearing streets for cars, trucks, and buses.  Most pedestrians are left to fend for themselves to navigate icy and snow-covered sidewalks.  Many end up walking in the street, often the only clear path available. Snow thrown aside by plows have left tall piles block many bus stops, again forcing people into the street to wait for the bus.

Many business districts like Downtown, the Plaza, and Brookside use private contractors to clear their sidewalks, but in residential areas it’s the property owners who are responsible for clearing their sidewalks.  The City has an ordinance on the books requiring sidewalks to be cleared, but doesn’t really have any personal to enforce it.

A pedestrian walking in West 39th Street at Pennsylvania Avenue.

Plowed snow blocking access to the Plaza MAX station on J.C. Nichols Parkway.

The Pitch has results of last week’s KCPD crosswalk enforcement event.  The vast majority of tickets went to motorists who didn’t yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, however a few pedestrians were ticketed for jaywalking or crossing against a traffic light. Police Chief Jim Corwin also talks about it on his blog.

Out of the blue, the KCMO Police Department has started enforcing crosswalk laws with a week-long sting operation in Downtown and Midtown. Police are ticketing motorists who don’t yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, as well as pedestrians who jaywalk or cross against a traffic light.

It’s great to see the KCPD finally take on this work. Over the last three years the Share the Road Safety Task Force has conducted sting operations in Kansas City and several suburbs, but the KCPD has not participated.  Instead, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department has assisted with sting operations in Midtown, Brookside, and around UMKC.  Kudos to the KCPD for joining the cause of safety for all roadway users.

KC Star: KC police step up enforcement of crosswalk rules.

West 31st on Signall Hill

Broadway at 43rd

A new report on pedestrian safety in the United States ranks the Kansas City metro area above average for pedestrian danger.  We ranked 20th and of 52 large metro areas with a Pedestrian Danger Index of 77.6, compared to a national average of 52.

The report, Dangerous by Design: Solving the Epidemic of Preventable Pedestrian Deaths (and Making Great Neighborhoods), ranks America’s major metropolitan areas and states according to a Pedestrian Danger Index that assesses how safe they are for walking. An update of the 2004 Mean Streets report, Dangerous by Design was released by Transportation for America and the Surface Transportation Policy Partnership.

On the state-wide level, Missouri scored slightly more dangerous than average, with a danger index of 57 out of 52.  Meanwhile, Kansas ranked much safer, with a score of 27.6.

Dangerous By Design
(PDF, 3.7 MB, right-click to download instead of open)

Missouri fact sheet (PDF)

Kansas fact sheet (PDF)

The City’s Public Works Department just announced that on Saturday Wyandotte Street will become a two-way street between 6th and 12th.

Over the last few years the city has been gradually converting Downtown’s mess of one-way streets into two-way streets. One-way streets have been proven to be more hostile and dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists.  They encourage motorists to drive faster and raised stress levels of motorists trying to navigate complicated street grids.

Kansas City’s two-way conversion compliments the many other investments that have been made to make Downtown more inviting everyone, and safer for pedestrians in particular.

View Larger Map

Continue reading ‘Yet another one-way street is being eliminated Downtown’ »

Is your child able to walk or bicycle to school, or do they spend hours on  a school bus or in the back of your minivan?  In 1969, approximately 50% of children walked or bicycled to school, and 87% of children living within one mile of school did. Today, fewer than 15% of schoolchildren walk or bicycle to school.

Safe Routes To School is a national program that aims to get more kids walking or cycling to school by addressing the safety and infrastructure barriers that exist today. October is International Walk to School Month, and October 7th is Walk to School Day. Here are some local resources that you can bring to your own child’s school.

The KCMO School District is starting walking school buses at two elementary schools – Phyllis Wheatley school in the Washington-Wheatley neighborhood and Whittier school in the Lykins neighborhood.

Schedule of  October Walk to School events in Missouri schools and Kansas schools.

Walking School Bus Programs
Organized groups of kids walking to school with adult supervision.

• KC Healthy Kids coordinates Missouri Schools
• Bridging the Gap coordinates Kansas Schools

One Mile Solution Lesson Plan
Explore options for walking to destinations in your own neighborhood. Provided by the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation.

Safe Kids Metro KC
Local profit provides additional resources for child pedestrian and bicycle safety. Johnson County  has it’s own Safe Kids group.

State-wide Safe Routes to Schools programs include grants for sidewalks, crossings, education programs, etc.

• Missouri (MoDOT).
• Kansas (KDOT).

Tonight the Plaza Branch of the KCMO Public Library hosts a lecture and book signing with Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do. It’s a very interesting analysis of the psychological, physical, and technical factors of traffic.  The book includes bicycling and walking, so this event will be of interest to alternative transportation fans as well. Rainy Day Books will be selling Traffic at the event, and the author will sign copies purchased there this evening.

Tom Vanderbilt
Monday, September 14th, 6:30 p.m.
Plaza Branch Library
4801 Main Street, KCMO 64112 (map)
More info and RSVP.