Kansas City News Blog

By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI

Known for its nation-leading urban sprawl, Kansas City has spent almost three decades spinning its wheels when it comes to accommodating pedestrians and cyclists.

As far back as 1980, the Department of Parks and Recreation put together a plan for Kansas City Bikeways. But it went the way of side ponytails and parachute pants before it could gain any traction.

In 1991, the Mid-America Regional Council initiated MetroGreen, a proposed network of trails that would span seven counties and 1,140 miles. That idea got no further than assembling an unwieldy gaggle of public officials in the same room at the same time.

In 2002, Kansas City earmarked $1.7 million for Bike KC, an effort to advance a network of cycling provisions on public streets. But four years later, the city couldn't even scare up a map of its progress.
 
All those years and all that paper have resulted in a paltry 30 miles of trails in Kansas City. Last week, the City Council passed another far-reaching vision for hundreds of miles of pedestrian and cycling paths. This time, though, activists are optimistic it won't be another map to nowhere.

In September, city staffers unveiled the Trails KC initiative at a City Plan Commission meeting. The document, which incorporates the input of dozens of citizens and experts, calls for more than 250 miles of municipal trails, extending from the Kansas City International Airport to the Grandview triangle. Shannon Jaax, a staffer in the city's planning department, told the councilmembers that even our Kansas neighbors -- like Johnson County with its 196 miles of trails -- are putting us to shame when it comes to alternative transit corridors. "We're not even competing locally, let alone nationally," she said.

Jaax emphasized that, never before has the city officially endorsed a document that set out design standards for the trails, outlined a specific implementation plan and identified potential funding sources. Last week, the full Kansas City City Council gave that plan the go-ahead. Even better: the plan has already been slated to return before the council to kick-start implementation with the heads of Public Works and Parks & Recreation in mid-December.

So, despite past false-starts, some of Kansas City's most active cycling advocates told me they are hopeful this effort won't fall flat.

"The city seems to have made a much stronger commitment to making the plan a living document and not putting it on a shelf to collect dust like previous plans," Eric Rogers wrote in an email. "Plus, many of us in the advocacy community will be watching very closely and lobbying for the resources to make it happen."

"This is a solid, well-thought-out, prioritized plan with realistic cost estimates and times frames for completing each segment," wrote Brent Hugh, president of the Missouri Bicycle Federation.