2009 Tour of Missouri economic impact statement.

Professor Freilich will discuss the sustainability movement focusing on how the new Stimulus and Transportation Acts encourage states and localities to adopt sustainable energy policies. He will focus on specific state, city-county, and regional plans that have been successfully implemented and will conclude with some suggestions for the Kansas City region

Thursday, September 17, 2009 at UMKC
5 p.m. reception – School of Law Student Lounge
6 p.m. public lecture – E.E. (Tom) Thompson Courtroom
University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
500 East 52nd Street (NE corner of 52nd and Oak)
Program is free of charge and open to the public, but R.S.V.P.s are appreciated to 816-235-1644 or pinkmanm@umkc.edu.
Parking is available in the pay station lot on the west side of Oak between 51st and 52nd Streets

More information (PDF)

Please send a quick message asking our elected leaders to include bike/ped in any applications for stimulus funds. Negotiations are going on right now, so time is of the essence.

4th District Councilmember Beth Gottstein welcomed the test to her district.  The existing angle parking along Baltimore Street in the Crossroads District and on 62nd Terrace in front of the Brookside Market will reversed to the back-in design that has been proven to reduce crashes.  5th District Councilmember Cindy Circo also volunteered to try it in her district. 1st District Councilmembers Deb Hermann and Bill Skaggs had been adamantly opposed to the safer parking design, but ended up supporting the compromise plan.

This is great progress for making Kansas City more bicycle-friendly.  We stopped the slow chipping away of the BikeKC route network, and served notice to developers that they can’t push through new projects without making them bike friendly. Plus, the city will now take a much closer look at parking design and potentially improve the safety of diagonal parking on many streets.

It is anticipated that the full City Council might vote on April 30th, and the law will be phased in over the next year. This will be a huge step forward for Kansas City. Bike-friendly cities like Chicago and Denver started with bike parking, and things like trails and bike lanes soon followed.

If you haven’t heard it yet, BBC World Service was recently in our city to record a big feature story on our attempts to rise above our infamous last-place ranking. They spent several days cycling around the city and interviewing everyone from folks on the street to Mayor Funkhouser, Councilmember Ed Ford, and Bike/Ped Coordinator Deb Ridgway .All three gave very good interviews that were frank about current conditions yet optimistic for the future. It is a pretty good report, although it is quite heavy on the fear and mayhem aspect of riding in traffic.

To be honest I think they have focused a bit too much on an older generation who have some well-entrenched perceptions of what it is like to bicycle here. It paints a picture where cycling is still a very unusual idea, despite a significant shift in attitudes over the last few years.  It’s too bad they didn’t spend a Friday evening in Westport, where it is quite common to see 30-40 bikes parked around the neighborhood and and almost constant stream of cyclists whizzing down the street.  They also spent a lot of time at the City Market which is surrounded by a sea of parking.  If they had ventured to some of the neighborhood grocery stores or farmers  markets they would have seen full bike racks and folks loading bike trailers with groceries.

I was disappointed that they picked up on the old meme that Ed Ford is anti-bike, because that is old news.  Despite his long-stated reservations about on-street bicycling, Councilmember Ford is coming around to the idea of bicycling as a form of transportation.  He was actually a big champion of the recent ordinance that legalized pedicabs in Kansas City. So can we please retire this old perception?

All in all I thought the BBC piece was quite good.  It could have used a bit more balance, but it did do a good job of showing the good and bad of bicycling here in Kansas City.

Listen to BBC One Planet – Cycling in Kansas City
(MP3, 30 minutes, right-click to download)

Tour of Missouri
The largest sporting even in the history of Missouri kicked off here in KC on the Country Club Plaza. It was a huge success. The KC stage is rumored to have attracted the most spectators and economic impact, even more than the finish in St. Louis.

Cyclocross National Championships
The cycling world’s focus returned the region in December when KCK hosted the Cyclocross National Championships.

Commuting

• A national ranking placed KC dead last for bike commuting among major American cities, yet all signs indicate the situation is rapidly changing.
• Bike to Work Week had another record year. Almost 400 people road nearly 20,000 miles, keeping 18,000 pounds on carbon dioxide out of the air and $3000 in the pockets of local commuters.
• New bike racks were installed in Downtown KCMO on 12th Street and at the Sprint Center.
• North Kansas City began planning to install bike racks along Armour Road in its business district.
• The Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation started a monthy Commuter Mocktail hour with free snacks and bike repairs.

Bike Culture

• An urban cycling culture continues to blossom in the Downtown/Midtown corridor where it is becoming obvious that all of the cool kids are riding.
• Critical Mass is setting new records, pushing 100 riders
• Alleycat races in the urban core keep multiplying and becoming more popular

Safety

• Fatalities and injuries remain hight, but efforts have been stepped up to make the city safer.
• The Share the Road Safety Task Force was formed with representatives of law enforcement, transportation departments, city officials, and advocates. It’s first enforcement operation demonstrated to all road users that you can get a ticket for disobeying traffic laws.
• The motorist who almost killed 13 year-od Juan Portillo pled guilty and will do jail time.
• Manslaughter charges were filed in the Gaunt and Chris Cooper killings, and trials are expected later in 2008.
• The Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation starting distributing lights to cyclists in the urban core who might not be able to afford them.

Mountain Biking

• The Missouri General Assembly passed a new law to ease construction of trails in Missouri parks and conservation lands.
• Work began on a new trail system in Swope Park, finally brining mountain biking into the very heart of the city.

Advocacy

• KanBikeWalk was formed as the first state-wide group lobbying for the rights of bicyclists and pedestrians in Topeka.
• The nationally-syndicated Perils for Pedestrians program filmed an episode in the KC area.
• Bicyclists and pedestrians came together to help elect a bike/ped-friendly KCMO City Council, which resulted in the metro’s first political ad featuring bicyclists.
• After much advocacy, MoDOT consented to allow a bike/ped lane on the new Paseo Bridge, as soon as local governments find the money to pay for it.
• Local advocacy convinced the KCMO City Manger to hire the city’s first Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator.
• A multi-year campaign by the Missouri Bicycle Federation resulted in an agreement for extending the Katy Trail State Park into the Kansas City suburbs.
• Advocates from across Missouri descended on Jefferson City to meet with legislators.
• Coverage of bicycling issues increased in the local news media.

Planning

• KCMO, Lee’s Summit, Grain Valley, and Blue Springs all worked to plan and/or expand comprehensive, city-wide trails networks.
• Overland Park began planning on-street facilities to compliment its excellent off-street trail system.
• Olathe created a ground-breaking bicycle transportation plan to integrate both on-street routes and off-street trails.

Things to watch for in 2008

• Funding bike/ped lanes for the Heart of America and Paseo bridges
• On-street bike routes in KCMO, plus more bike parking and the replacement of hazardous storm drains.
• A new planning and zoning code in KCMO that will make the city more friendly for bicycles, pedestrians, and transit.
• The Missouri Bicycle Federation will propose new laws for Complete Streets and stiffer penalties for motorists who kill or injure bicyclists and pedestrians.
• The Tour of Missouri will return for a second year.
• KanBikeWalk will ramp up its efforts to lobby for the rights of Kansas bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Advocates will continue pushing for bicycle accommodations on road projects like Missouri Routes 45 and 150, Lee’s Summit Road, and 127th Street in Olathe.
• Construction should begin on a new trail along the north bank of the Missouri River in Platte County.
• The Riverfront Heritage will near completion with the construction of critical links in the West Bottoms, Kaw Point, and under the A.S.B. Bridge.
• Planning will get underway for the Katy Trail State Park extension to Kansas City.

Yesterday’s election was a good one for cycling. For the first time the bicycle and pedestrian community became organized and asserted itself as an important constituency. Six of twelve incoming City Council members were endorsed by the KC Coalition for Walking and Bicycling. With the addition of Mark Funkhouser as Mayor we will have a majority on the council!

Only two of our endorsed candidates lost, both to opponents who also turned in good answers to our questionnaires. So in total we have at least 9 of 13 council members who are supportive of bike/ped issues.

Going forward we just have to hold these folks to their words and keep up the pressure on City Hall to improve policies and infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians. Many of the candidates had some good ideas, so it will be very interesting to see what happens over the next year or so.

KC Star: Give trail a happy ending.

Demand a Complete Katy
If you haven’t done so lately, please take 2 minutes to ask both sides to just get it done. The Missouri Bicycle Federation has an easy web site for this at mobikefed.org/CompleteTheKaty.

From Brent Hugh, Executive Director, Missouri Bicycle Federation

Many of us have attended the previous meetings about the project to
widen Route 150 between Route 71 and Route 291. Route 150 is
currently very uninviting and dangerous for bicycling and walking.
With improvements it could become a major and important route for
walking and bicycling.

In the meeting Tuesday, MoDOT will present the results of their study
and the public input. This is a good opportunity to give them feedback
about whether they are going the right direction or not.

The main messages we have been giving MoDOT on this project:

1. Sidewalks are needed on BOTH sides of the road in urban areas.

2. Putting a wide sidewalk on one side of the road does NOT remove
the need to include adequate on-street bicycle accommodations.

Keep in mind that this area is projected to become completely
urbanized in the lifetime of this project. So it is appropriate to
treat Route 150 as an urban route that requires complete bicycle and
pedestrian compatibility.

MoDOT's new policy requires bicycle and pedestrian facilities when
the public asks for them--so let's ASK!

If you can't attend the meeting you could send an email supporting
the above points to stephen.porter@modot.mo.gov
<mailto:stephen.porter@modot.mo.gov> (please remember to be polite
and persuasive--and thank them for listening to our viewpoint,
because they really have listened to us on this project).

Meeting details:

Route 150 Widening in Jackson County

Tuesday, February 27, 2007
 Meadowmere Elementary School
 7010 E. 136th Street
 Grandview, MO 

6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Google map of meeting location:

* http://tinyurl.com/2cl2el*

 A proposed alignment for the Route 150 widening project will be on
display for comment at a public hearing. An eight-mile section of
Route 150 is scheduled for widening to four lanes between Route 71
and Route 291. The project is expected to begin in 2008 and be
completed by 2010. The $30 million project is funded with Amendment 3
dollars, which have been allocated to accelerate the completion of the
state's priority highway projects. MoDOT engineers, right-of-way
specialists and engineering consultants will be available to explain
details and answer questions at the open-house, come-and-go-formatted
meeting. No formal presentations will be made.