Now that Governor Jay Nixon has killed the Tour of Missouri, this weekend’s Tour of Kansas City is the only opportunity to see professional bicycling racing on our city’s streets. The three day event event brings in some great talent from across the Midwest and beyond. It starts this Friday evening with the Longview Twighlight Criterium in Lee’s Summit. Saturday is the Cliff Drive Classic circuit race, a long-standing tradition. Sunday wraps up with the Power & Light Criterium on the streets of Downtown Kansas City.
Check the course maps for locations to view the races. All stages take place in bike-friendly neighborhoods, so take the opportunity to go by bike! The Tour of Kansas City benefits Operation Breakthrough, a well-regarded local daycare provider for children in lower income families.
I hope that the “tour” will not block off vital streets such as Grand or Main. Both are major travel and traffic flow arteries. There was a major fire in a Crown Center high-rise condo tower just two weeks ago. Had the fire happened during the blockage of those streets to a race or any other street function , the situation would probably have resulted in a much more tragic ending. Another idea would be to have races in our city go in only one direction.. Start in the city, and end in another location. Tournaments need not start and stop at the same location. The original Marathon in ancient Greece was a one way run.
Robert,
I think you would agree that using 4 police units and closing off 1 mile of road is more appropriate than using 30 police units and closing down 30 miles of road – especially considering your concern with an incident occurring in the area. It’s really just a matter of not consuming resources. In the event of an emergency (like the Crown Center one you mentioned), I think the race organizers would be perfectly capable of telling the racers to stop riding and moving a few road cones. Additionally, if any accidents occur in the race, the appropriate medical services can be dispatched and on the scene within 1-2 minutes. If the race was from point to point, people could be critically injured and not receive the care they need in the time they need it.
On a side note, there’s also the issue that almost all of the 9 races held that day are different lengths; so I don’t know how you would deal with that without consuming even more of the resources you want available in case of an emergency.
And, generally speaking, even marathons begin and end in the same location. Would you like to watch your friend/spouse begin a race and then hop in a car and head to the finish line while trying to avoid all the road blocks and traffic jams caused by the race he/she is in? Plus, the original marathon wasn’t a race; it was a message delivery. No cones, barricades, police, or any other resources were consumed for the message to be delivered.
I understand you’re probably not well acquainted with running or cycling, as most Americans aren’t, so these are just some ideas to ponder.
You may also want to speak to the art fair folks that were down there Sunday. They had all kinds of art and tents set up right in the middle of the road – and with all those one-way streets down town, it got real confusing