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.

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.



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.

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.

View Larger Map

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.

Streetfilms video of Sunday Parkways in New York:

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.

Sunday Parkways on Cliff Drive – details and schedule of activities.

Streetswiki article about Ciclovias.

Streetsfilm video of Ciclovia in Bogotá:

Streetfilms has more ciclovia videos from Chicago, San Francisco, Milwaukee, etc.

Check out St. Louis Open Streets

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 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.

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.