Missouri Bicycle News Article

Dale Crawford writes on KCBicycle:

The great thing about this new bridge having bike/ped accommodation is it will give 3 non-interchange crossings on I-35 south of I-435 (College Blvd., 143rd/Dennis w/ bike lanes and now 127th/Harold) within the developed areas of Lenexa and Olathe. Lone Elm Road is much further south, but is also slated for a new full interchange with heavy truck traffic anticipated given the industrial land uses of that area.

The final design for the bike/ped accommodation is still in underway although the rest of the project is 90% complete due to the timing of the CMAQ award. The project includes a new 1/2-mile road connecting Mur-len (Renner everywhere else but Olatheland) and KC Road with a bridge over Rogers Road, I-35 and the BNSF RR tracks.

First off, bike lanes won't fit across the bridge. The deck width was set before the funding application was submitted and awarded. Current bridge deck is about 6' to narrow for full bike lanes next to a vertical pedestrian guardrail. It would require redesign of a 90% completed bridge to widen it, require purchasing additional right-of-way after right-of-way acquisition has already be completed and would cost more than the award would cover with consultants change order and additional land & construction cost.

As of my last meeting with Engineering, the project includes an 8' wide sidewalk for on the north side (AASHTO bike minimum) except over the bridge where its slightly wider but less than AASHTO minimum as a bike facility due to the require 2' additional shy zone from vertical obstacles (guardrails). A 5' sidewalk is on the south side. 8' on the north was all that was possible within the newly acquired right-of-way, which had been completed prior to the award of the CMAQ funds.

The new roadway/bridge will have 14' wide furthest right through lanes and share the road signs between Mur-Len and KC Road, but only 13' wide furthest right through lanes in the transition zones east of Mur-Len and west of KC Road where the 6-lane new road narrows back to the existing wide 2 lane minor arterials on either side of the project area. I'm working on getting 14' lanes in the transition zones, but Engineering is resisting. It requires more extensive redesign of the transition zone (moving curbs, storm inlets, traffic signals, median curbs, narrows sidewalk-curb distance 1', etc.) because it can't be made up in adjust traffic lane strips without narrow the inner driving lanes to less than 11'.

I specifically said furthest right through lanes because there are four locations where there area long right-turn only lanes. Where the outside lane becomes a right-turn only lane at Mur-Len and at KC Road, the 14' wide lane moves over to the "furthest right" through lane.

I'm comfortable with the accommodation on the new road/bridge portion. It meets AASHTO as the wide sidewalk becomes an enhanced pedestrian facility that's minimally wide enough for non-road cyclists and the 14' wide lane becomes the official bike facility. Eventually this section line road (127th east of I-35 & Harold Street west of I-35 - only in Olatheland!) is supposed to have bike lanes on all but this new road, but this new section will have the wide outside lanes. I don't like changing facility type in the middle of a corridor, but its the best I could get given the timing situation.

If anyone from Olathe is on this list or if you know cyclists from Olathe who'd be willing to help, let me know. I can use some citizen help on getting "full" AASHTO accommodation through the transition zones. Granted the will be better than any other bridge I'm aware of in Johnson County, but the rest of the transition zones can be better. I also need Olathe voices stepping up to push for a full intermodal transportation network study. We had it 2002 budget but it got cut during budget reductions after the 2003 budgets were approved assuming the study was going to happen with 2002 money. This study would improve the initial design criteria for major project so we don't have to shoehorn in bike facilities in the middle of the process.

Dale Crawford