MoDOT is using some of  its funding from the federal economic stimulus to add sidewalks to Antioch Road in Kansas City and to improve existing sidewalks along 169 Hwy in Smithville.  Next week there are two public meetings where you can learn more about their plans for these two projects.

Informational Public Meeting for Route 1 (Antioch Road) Sidewalk Improvements between 72nd Street and Vivion Road
Thursday, July 23 from 4-5:30 p.m.
Northland Neighborhoods, Inc.
3015 NE Vivion Road, Kansas City, MO

MoDOT will host an open house style public meeting regarding improvements to the sidewalks along Route 1 (Antioch Road) between 72nd Street and Vivion Road in the city of Gladstone and KCMO through an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project. Plans include new sidewalks and pedestrian accommodations to help increase mobility and provide better access.  Stop by between the hours of 4 and 5:30 p.m. to learn more about this project and how it will affect those in the area

Informational Public Meeting for Route 169 Sidewalk Improvements between Route KK and Route 92 in Smithville
Thursday, July 23 from 4-5:30 p.m.
Smithville City Hall Council Chambers
107 W Main Street, Smithville, Mo.

MoDOT will host an open house style public meeting regarding improvements to the sidewalks along Route 169 between Route KK and Route 92 in the city of Smithville through an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project. Plans include new sidewalks and pedestrian accommodations to help increase mobility and provide better access. Stop by between the hours of 4 and 5:30 p.m. to learn more about this project and how it will affect those in the area.

Yesterday the KCMO City Council finally approved a complete overhaul of the city’s outdated planning/zoning/development regulations.  The new development code is a huge step towards more compact, sustainable, and multi-modal development.

Some highlights…

1. Pedestrian Zones: Ensures walkable streetscapes that are safe and inviting for pedestrians.
2. Reduced Parking Requirements: Businesses have to provide less parking -  facilitating redevelopment of older areas, paving less green space in new developments, and encourage more transit usage.
3. Bicycle Parking: new businesses and multi-family housing required to provide bicycle parking for visitors and customers, as well as enhanced bike parking for residents and employees.
4. Traffic Impact: developers must now study the impact on bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users when their projects generate additional automobile traffic.

Read more about the development code…

The new code will start being phased in over six months and be fulling enforced in one year.  Advocates spent many hours negotiating with city staff and private developers, and many of you testified at public hearings or wrote letters to city officials.  All of that work paid off with a much better end result.

Tonight the Missouri Bicycle & Pedestrian Federation is hosting a public meeting with the Missouri Transportation Alliance.  This is the private group putting together the next initiative petition for future MoDOT funding.  Most recently they led the successful Amendment 3 campaign.

Most of the group are the usual suspects of people who want new and bigger highways, so it is very important that they hear from Missourians who want some of MoDOT’s funding spent on transit, walking, bicycling, etc.  To date, tonight is the only meeting that MTA is holding in Kansas City.

Having a voice in the future of MoDOT funding is especially critical given recent news that MoDOT used taxpayers’ money to lobby against a Complete Streets bill that would have made them take alternative transportation more seriously.

Missouri Transportation Alliance Public Meeting
Tuesday, May 19th
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Mid-America Regional Council, Broadway Room – First Floor
600 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO

Bicycle Parking is located on the northwest corner of the building.
Buses #106, #129, and #37 serve the location directly, and several routes are available at the 10th and Main Transit Center.

This request comes from Deb Ridgway, KCMO’s Bike/Ped Coordinator. Getting an accurate measure of bicycle and pedestrian traffic is a critical first step for efforts to build more bike lanes, trails, and other facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians.  Please volunteer if you can.  The first count will occur in KCMO, and hopefully suburban cities will participate later this year.

In an effort to document the actual number of cyclists and pedestrians in Kansas City, the City of Kansas City, MO will be conducting a test run of the survey/counts national tool in April. We will participate in the National Survey in September with citywide coverage.

Counts/surveys will be done at three locations on two separate dates/times. We need a total of 12 volunteers; 2 people are needed for each location on each date.

Volunteers will be required to attend a training session. Volunteers will receive their assignments, survey packets and ID at the training.The training will take place, Wednesday, April 22nd, 4:30 – 5:30 PM at the KC Design Center, 1018 Baltimore.

Volunteers are needed for the following dates:
Thursday, April 23rd, 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Saturday, April 25th, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Please email Allison Macon, Bike/Ped Data Collection Assistant if you are interested in volunteering with this project. Her email is: alii16@ku.edu.

Thanks so much for your support of this very important project.

Deb Ridgway, MSW
Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator
City of Kansas City, MO

On Tuesday, March 3rd the Missouri House Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on HB 642.  This bill would direct MoDOT to develop a policy for fairly accommodating all road users – bicyclists, pedestrians, transit users, the disabled, in addition to motorists.  HB 642 is a second attempt to pass a Complete Streets bill in Missouri.  Last year Complete Streets passed the House overwhelmingly, but was killed in the Senate after personal lobbying by MoDOT Director Pete Rahn.

Click here to send an email to the House Transportation Committee and tell them that you support HB 642.

Read the text of HB 642.

Learn more about Complete Streets.

Members of the House Transportation Committee.

Over the next few weeks the Kansas Department of Transportation is holding public meetings about the future of the transportation system on the Kansas side of the metro area.

Attending one of these meetings is a great way to let public officials and transportation planners know that citizens want more  choices for getting around – including public transit, bicycling, and walking.

Johnson County
Tuesday, February 24, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
MidAmerica Nazerene  University Bell Center
2030 East College Way
Olathe, KS 66062
JO Bus Route B

Wyandotte County
Tuesday, March 24, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
KCKS Community Colleges Conference Center
7250 State Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66112
Bus Route 101

More info, including meetings in outlying counties.

Kansas City is feeling the crunch of the national recession, and needs to cut at least $80 million from the upcoming 2009-2010 budget.  This makes it more important than usual to speak up for transportation choice.  Over the next six weeks there will be a public hearing in each of the six City Council districts.  This is your chance to ask your elected representatives to make sure that transportation choice remains viable in Kansas City.

Here some specific items that are either in danger of cuts and/or things that are competing for funds:

• Bus service – The City Manager is proposing a 15% cut from the KCATA budget, just as more people are using and relying on public transit.
• Crosswalks – Paint for crosswalks was cut from the 2008-2009 budget and should be restored to protect pedestrian safety.

Find your Council District.

Budget Hearings:

Next week the KCMO City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will have three open houses around the city to get citizen input on the committee’s work.   This committee deals with things like roads, bridges, trails, bike routes, sidewalks, transit, etc.

During tight budget times it is especially critical for us to speak up and let the City Council know that bicycle, pedestrian, and transit funding are important and deserving ways to spend money.  It’s pretty easy, and all you have to do is briefly state your desire for the city to fund bus routes, sidewalks, bike routes, trails, or whatever else you want to see built.

Monday, January 26, 6:00 p.m. – North
Northland Neighborhoods, 3015 Vivion Road(map)
Tue, January 27, 6:00 p.m. – Central
Gregg-Klice Community Center at 18th & Vine, 1600 East 17th Terrace (map)
Wed, January 28, 6:00 p.m. – South
Baptiste Education Center, 5401 East 103rd Street (map)

KCP&L is patting themselves on the back with their announcement of a new green office campus in south Kansas City.  The facility will be LEED certified and feature lots sustainible energy features.  Unfortunately, the new campus’ green credentials fall very short in one important area: transportation.

The semi-rural area at I-470 and Raytown Road is a highly auto-dependent location with no bus service.  The nearest bus stop is two miles away, and the connecting streets do not have sidewalks. It is in stark contrast to the transit-rich location of KCP&L’s headquarters at 12th and Main in Downtown. Can KCP&L really claim to be building a green campus when the employees that work there will be dependent on the automobile to get to work?  Do you think KCP&L will be buying carbon offsets to remediate the impact of employees’ car commuting?

This is one more example of how the sustainability conversation in Kansas City often leaves out the transportation piece.  And that is a problem because transportation contributes more than a third of our greenhouse gas emissions. The metro area’s grand vision of being “America’s Green Region” will never be attainable until we start putting transportation’s environmental impact at the top of the agenda.

Business Journal: KCP&L buys 83 acres for new campus

KCP&L Press Release


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