As reported here earlier, the city of Olathe, KS is preparing to widen 2 miles of 127th Street from Mur-Len to Pflumm. The city took a proactive stance and included bike lanes in this project. Unfortunately those bike lanes have drawn the ire of residents along 127th who are opposed to the road expansion.

Things took a turn for the worse last month when the city held a public meeting with little notice. Many cyclists attended a public meeting in March, but they were not notified of a subsequent April meeting, and some have reported that their written comments were mysteriously dropped from the public record.

The rumor mill says that the city intentionally limited the April invite list to residents along the street, purposely excluding us pesky bicyclists and others who had already expressed an interest in the project. It was supposed to be a repeat of the March meeting with no new information, but it ended including a survey of those in attendance. It was no surprise that with the skewed nature of the meeting they received over 30 votes against the bike lanes and only a 1 or 2 in favor.

Olathe bike commuter Noah has even more on the situation. If you live, work, or bike in Olathe please join him in demanding the city keep this process open and transparent.

I can certainly sympathize with residents losing property to automobiles, but their attack on the bike lanes is misguided. If it was safer to bike and walk along 127th Street then less space would be needed for cars. The bigger issue here is building cities for cars, not people. If the folks along 127th really want to make a difference then this it is the car-centric attitude they need to fight. Olathe is developing in a way that requires a car to live. Road widening will always be a consequence until the city changes its attitude.