Below is a recap of last night’s meeting regarding widening of 127th Street in Olathe.  According to Dale,   “It’s the first time in my nearly 15 years of bike advocacy I’ve heard a City Engineer say the ‘bike lanes are a done deal.’”

127th Street Meeting Minutes
Dale Crawford, JCBC Advocacy Chair

It was a huge turn out at Thursday’s meeting by both neighboring residents and area bicyclists.  The turnout even surprised the city staff and consultants who were only recognizable by their 127th Street sky “blue shirts” in the crowd.  My first thought was that’s a lot of expense just for a meeting.  But I quickly realized it was money well spent as it was the only way to know who the “staff/consultant team” was in the crowd as the people literally overwhelmed the room at the library.  I counted about 20 bicyclists amongst the crowd with about half of us in our “bike drag” including several bike commuters I didn’t know before tonight that use 127th Street .

First off I’d like to thank those of you who emailed the city and/or attended the tonight’s meeting.  It worked.  It’s the first time in my nearly 15 years of bike advocacy I’ve heard a City Engineer say the “bike lanes are a done deal.”  I sometimes feel I am pestering you all with these advocacy emails, but responses like tonight are what its all is about.  Your JCBC Board nearly had a quorum tonight.  Your board members at the meeting were: Mark Scrivner, Connie Conner, Nan Borchardt and myself, plus another past president and long time board member Wayne Touhig.  Even though Wayne ’s not on the board, he’s still out there working for better bicycling.  And Mark goes where ever a voice is needed to support bicycling.  As soon as I start to list everyone else, I’ll miss someone so you know who you were.  Thank yo u one and all.

However, (there always seems to be a however in this business) we will keep our eye on the project as the “devil is in the details.”  For instance, Robert Brendt, one of the bike commuters I met tonight, astutely asked if the bike lanes would get extended all the way through the left turn lane areas to the crosswalks.  One of the “blue shirts” stated the “standard” required bike lanes to be dropped when left turn lanes are added and not extended through to the crosswalks at intersections.  This is not correct, but it is a design option when right-of-way is restricted.  Apparently they misinterpreted Olathe ’s “standard” as the “design” used for dropping the bike lanes on Dennis Ave and 143r d Street at left turn lane areas.  However, the Dennis/143rd Street project was a retrofit/rehab of an existing road where numerous left turn lanes existed before the bike lanes were added.  To have extended the bike lanes through the left turn lane areas on Dennis and 143rd would have required extensive costs to relocate traffic signals, signal control boxes, drainage structures and pipes, utilities and land acquisition as well as widening the road and placing new curbs.  This would have easily doubled the cost of the project for the 5.5 miles of bike lanes and killed the entire project.  Dropping the bike lanes at the left turn lane areas was a compromise to save the entire bike lane project.   127th Street will be a new road with all new curbs and pavement and much higher traffic volumes then Dennis or 143rd.  This is the time to do it right and make 127th Street the “standard” for all future projects in Olathe.

While I’ll do my best to keep JCBC members informed as the details become available do not hesitate to be an involved citizen on your own.  The more bicyclists the “team” hears from, the better.  That’s what makes our governments work for us .  For more information on the project and to comment if you have not already, take a couple of minutes and go to the project web site:  www.imporve127th.com.  It may take the team a few days to get the maps and information boards from Thursday’s meeting posted, but please check back.  A short comment like:

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I fully support the inclusion of bike lanes on 127th Street from Mur-Len to Pflumm.  As a road bicyclist, I urge you to extend the bike lanes the entire length of the project, which means taking them through intersections to the cross walks.  While there were extenuating circumstances for not doing this on the 143rd Street and Dennis Avenue bike lanes, this will be a totally new road way with much higher traffic volumes.  Intersections are the most dangerous section of a roadway for bicyclists.  The bike lanes extended to the cross walks will greatly increase our safety and provide the smoothest traffic flow through the project.

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With your help, 127th Street will become the model to build all major roads to in Johnson County .

Dale Crawford

JCBC Advocacy Chair