Thursday, July 22nd: Groundbreaking for Waterfall Park Trail in Independence
5:30 p.m. behind Nature’s Pantry, 19019 40 Highway. City officials will begin work on a new trail connecting Waterfall Park to the popular Little Blue Trace Trail and creating pedestrian access across I-470/291.

Saturday, July 25th: Bicycle Swap Meet
From sunrise to mid-afternoon at El Torreon Ballroom, 31st and Gillham on Union Hill.

Saturday, July 25th: Tour de Lizard mountain bike race
All day in Arkansas City, KS.  Details here.

Thursday, July 29th: Fund raiser for Coucilmember Russ Johnson
5:00-7:30 p.m at Chapell’s Restaurant, 323 Armour Road, NKC. Support a KCMO City Councilmember who supports bicyclists.

Livable Streets Lee’s Summit is a new city/community partnership working to make sure the rapid growth in this southeast suburb keeps the city livable for people by incorporating all roadway users into the growing transportation system

The group is already tackling a couple of very big initiatives – Complete Streets and the Bicycle Friendly Community designation.  Complete Streets is a public policy movement to make sure all new and rebuilt streets are inclusive of all users – motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, the disabled, children, elderly, etc.  Bicycle Friendly Community is the League of American Bicyclist’s program to recognize bike friendly cities.  Shawnee, KS is the first and only metro city to have a BFC designation so far.

Livable Streets Lee’s Summit has also begun some education and encouragement activities with their WIBIs – Walk In  Bike In events.  The next one is on June 31st when anyone arrives at Sheridan’s by bike or foot gets a discount.

Lee’s Summit is quickly emerging as a metro area leader in the livability movement.  The city already has a dense, mixed-use Downtown served by Amtrak and someday commuter rail.  Plus, Lee’s Summit’s extensive recreational trail systems serves as a great starting point for a more transportation-focused bikeway network.  If you live in or near the city, be sure to check out Livable Streets Lee’s Summit at www.livablestreetsls.com and on Facebook.

Kansas Cyclist has more details and RSVP info.

Get out your credit cards and donate now.

This year KCBC gives us another important reason to sign up for this ride: it is now a fund raiser for the city’s trails and fountains. Proceeds will go to Friends of Trails KC to support development and maintenance of the city’s trail system, and to Friends of the Fountains to help maintain the fountain city’s namesake icons.

So sign up now to get an early registration discount and reserve your spot on this great bike ride supporting two great parts of our city.  9, 17, 22, 31 and 49 mile routes are available. The route is fully supported by KCBC’s famous SAG service with food, water, and maintenance.

City of Fountains Bicycle Tour on Facebook

From Let’s Go KC:

This month there are two opportunities to support elected officials who are supportive of the transportation choices that make our city more livable and competitive.  KCMO Councilmembers Jan Marcason and Cindy Circo are holding fund raisers for their re-election campaigns.

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.

Thursday, June 3rd, 4:00-7:00 PM
Lenexa Community Center
13420 Oak Street, Lenexa, KS 66215 (map/directions)

KanBikeWalk Vice-President Dale Crawford has more background and some talking points:

See announcement below for an invaluable opportunity to provide comment at the beginning, when its needed the most, for a new Lone Elm Road & K-10 Interchange.  Some of you may be saying “Where? I don’t ride across K-10 there.”  Your right, Lone Elm does not cross K-10 today, but this interchange could be the first safe bicycle and pedestrian connection between Olathe and Lenexa.

This is a rare opportunity to make a statement to Lenexa officials about the importance of on-road bicycle accommodation.  Haven’t you noticed how Lenexa totally ignores on-road bicycling?  Well, here’s an opportunity to speak up where they can not ignore you.

So what do we ask for?

1.  Bike lanes through the length of the project on Lone Elm Road.  Lenexa doesn’t build them (but should) and Olathe has not built them on Lone Elm Road south of the K-10, but should.  Why?  Any interchange is a bottleneck for all traffic, which results in the greatest conflict between users.  Thus interchanges in particular should be design to the highest level possible for the most vulnerable users – bicyclists and pedestrians.  The highest level includes sidewalks on both sides and bike lane on the road.  These two elements, when properly combined, can reduce the conflict tremendously, making safer for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians alike.

2.  Olathe School District has a major education and activity campus just south of the the proposed interchange at College Boulevard, including Olathe NW High School, Prairie Trail Middle (Junior High) School, Meadowlane Elementary School and the College Boulevard Activity Complex where approximately 1/2 of all Olathe School District league games for football, baseball, soccer and softball are played.  The student population is currently +/-2,600 at these three schools.  The schools themselves have a student capacity of +/-3,500.  Much of the attendance boundaries for these schools includes southern Lenexa.  A properly designed interchange could at least provide the opportunity for older students to safely walk or bike to school instead of having to bus or drive.

3.  The K-State – Olathe Innovation Campus and KSU Biosciences Center is a regionally significant high-tech development immediately south of of the interchange area.  Bicycle commuters from north of K-10 would be able to safely access the campus and center if the Lone Elm Road/K-10 Interchange were designed to accommodate on-road bicyclists.  Bike lanes provide the highest level of commuter support in an area with the growth patterns of NW Olathe and SW Lenexa.

4.  Lenexa has major commercial and employment centers planned in the vicinity of the interchange and are hoping the interchange will spur this development.  Employment centers means jobs.  Jobs means traffic.  Commercial development means shopper.  SHoppers mean traffic.  Bicyclists are commuters, shoppers and traffic and must be considered in any major long-term infrastructure project.

Dale Crawford, RLA, ASLA
KanBikeWalk Vice-President

Photo by Randay Rasa, kansascyclist.com

Randy Rasa at Kansas Cyclist has great coverage of the bike/ped facilities that are part of the new Lone Elm Road interchange on I-35 in southwest Olathe. The new facilities are quite extensive, with bike lanes, a trail, signage, etc.  Unfortunately the infrastructure is a little inconsistent, and even includes some drainage grates that are not quite bike-friendly. Fortunately those things are all correctable. Kudos to Dale Crawford and the Johnson County Bicycle Club for a great advocacy on this project.  These new facilities are a direct result of their hard work lobbying elected officials and transportation planners.

• Kansas Cyclist: New Bike Lanes in Olathe.
• Map of Lone Elm Road at I-35.