The metro area has developed a regional application for the latest round of economic stimulus funding for transportation projects.  The Mid-America Regional Council, KC Area Transportation Authority, and City of Kansas City, MO have joined together to create a $93 million multi-modal plan including streets, transit, freight rail, bicycling, walking, and ADA. The application will go the federal government where it will compete for part of a national pot of $1.5 billion.

This particular grant program places a special emphasis on transportation investments that enhance the sustainability, livability, and safety of communities. KCMO Resolution 090716 details the specific allocations proposed for each project.

Green Impact Zone: $26.1 Million
Street resurfacing, sidewalks, traffic signals, pervious pavement, transit facilities, and Troost Bridge over Brush Creek. More about the Green Impact Zone.

Regional Transit: $27.5 Million
Design and engineering of a Downtown streetcar car system.  Infrastructure improvements on future Bus Rapid Transit routes include North Oak, Metcalf, State Avenue, and Easter Jackson County.

Bicycle and Pedestrian: $12.1 Million
Multi-use trails, on-street bicycle routes (including bike lanes), bicycle parking, sidewalks, crosswalks, ADA accommodations, and comprehensive education and encouragement programs.

Rail and Front Street: $21.8 Million
Freight railroad infrastructure.  Reloction/expansion of Front Street west of Paseo Bridge.

We should know by the end of January if our application is funded. See KCMO Resolution 090716 for more details.

Today the KCATA launched a new service to provide live tracking of all buses in the Metro system.  The new WebWatch system lets you see real-time arrivals, sign up for alerts from your favorite bus routes, and see the location of any bus on a Google Map. Together with the existing Google Transit service, the new WebWatch gives KC transit users very powerful tools for getting the most out of our bus system.

Insider tip: Bookmark the ADA version of the site for quick and easy access on mobile devices.

Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
Hilton Garden Inn
520 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, KS

The KC Area Transportation Agency and the Unified Government of Wyandotte/KCK will hold a public meeting on the proposed State Avenue Bus Rapid Transit project.  The project would add a third MAX line from Downtown KCMO to Downtown KCK and out to the Village West development and the Kansas Speedway (the second MAX line will begin service along Troost Avenue in 2010).

The State Avenue MAX line is scheduled to open in 2012, even though KCK has yet to figure out how it will pay to operate the service.  KCK has no dedicated transit funding. Instead, it makes annual allocations from its general budget for KCATA’s Metro service and its own The Bus.

The City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is currently considering applications for the next round transportation funding from the economic stimulus program, which goes by the acronym TIGER.

While all projects sound very worthy, their combined $340 million price tag is more than the $300 million expected to be available for the entire state of Missouri. The city and possibly suburban neighbors will have to make some hard choices about which projects or combination of projects is submitted to the Feds.  The US Department of Transportation criteria for selection includes long0-term impact, sustainability, livability, economic competitiveness, and safety.

Downtown Streetcar – proposed by the KCATA. 2.5 mile loop between the River Market and Crown Center. The hope is that up to $100 million in construction costs could be paid for by the feds and the operating costs paid for by an assessment on property along the route. This 2.5 mile segment is deemed the most likely to succeed from the recent light rail study.  The tracks would be built to accommodate light rail vehicles in the future. Streetcar presentation (PowerPoint).

Regional Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) - Proposed by the Mid-America Regional Council.  MAX service on Main Street and Troost Avenue would be expanded to four more Smart Moves corridors in Kansas City and the suburbs – North Oak, 40 Hwy, State Avenue, and Metcalf Avenue/Shawnee-Mission Parkway in Johnson County. Cost is estimated at $50-100 million.  A lack of ongoing operating money is a big weakness, especially for the two Kansas routes. BRT presentation (PDF).

Bicycle/Pedestrian Network – Proposed by the city’s Public Works Department.  The proposal would speed the build out of both on-street bike routes and multi-use trails, sidewalk construction and repair, crosswalks, curb cuts, and many ADA accessibility improvements.  The $45 million plan would have a strong emphasis would be placed on creating transportation corridors for bicycle and pedestrian commuters. Transforming Transportation for a Livable Kansas City (PDF).

Urban Transportation Safety Program - Another Public Works proposal includes $20 million in sidewalk improvements as part of a $97 million package for street resurfacing, traffic signals, etc. It would cover the city’s East Side, between the Missouri River and 103 Street, east of The Paseo. Presentation (PDF).

The T&I Committee’s blog has more information on these and other proposed projects. For even more context, archived video of the July 16th and 23rd committee meetings is online.

Yesterday the KCATA’s bus cuts took effect.  The cuts are in response to two problems. 1)  a decline in the transit sales tax due to the recession.  2) an additional cut from the City of KCMO cut money from the bus system to pay for traffic lights. Compounding the problem, an ineffective lobbying effort failed to get emergency help from the Missouri General Assembly. The ATA says that the Google Transit trip planner has been updated with the new schedules.

The Star interviews some people affected by the cuts.

Details of reduced bus routes from the KCATA.

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 Regional Transit Alliance will hold its annual meeting.  The featured speaker is Art Guzzetti, Vice President for Policy at the  American Public Transportation Association.

While the RTA did choose a venue with transit service, that stretch of State Line Road does not have sidewalks.  Bus riders and pedestrians will be forced to walk in the dirt along a busy five lane road to get to the building.

Reception: 5:00 p.m.
Program: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Alexander Majors Home
8201 State Line Road, Kansas City, MO
Details and registration

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 week we have two great pieces of news for transportation choice in Kansas City!

First, the federal economic stimulus is enabling MoDOT to speed up construction of a pedestrian/bicycle path over the Missouri River, on the Heart of America Bridge. By 2010 cyclists and pedestrians will have a safe and convenient way to cross the river.  See KCBike.Info for more details on this cool surprise.

Second, the debut of a new interactive map of park-and-ride lots in the KC metro area.  The RideShare map shows all of the park-and-ride lots and details about the bus routes that serve them.  It’s tied into Google Transit so you can quickly plan a bus ride from the parking lot to your destination.

This new map is much more user-friendly way for people to learn about transit options.  It’s a good start and hopefully in the future they will add direct links to bus route info and include details on bicycle parking facilities at each commuter lot.

Click here to call or email the City Council, or keep reading for more information.

Yesterday the KCATA announced cuts to a third of the Metro bus routes in KCMO, in response to the KC City Council reducing funding by $7 million in the 2009-2010 budget. This funding cut is the result of three things.

1. Lower revenue from the KCMO transit sales taxes during the recession.
2. Diversion of transit sales tax money to the city’s traffic signal department.
3. More diversion the same money to TIF projects that provide no transit benefit in return.

The list of cuts are available on the KCATA web site, as well as a list of public hearings on the proposed changes. The KC Star also has a story about this.

The City Council will vote on the budget today at 3:00 p.m, so there is only a small window of opportunity left to call or email your councilmember and let them know how you feel about diverting transit funding to other uses.  Click here to look up your councilmembers’s phone numbers and/or send them a quick message.