Bike KC initiative actually underway

Today the city of Kansas City, Missouri, announced that work on its BikeKC route plan is now moving forward!

City staff, citizens, and bicycle advocates have been working on this plan since the late 1990s!

This is the first actual work on the ground that has been done from the grants that were approved in the early 2000s. There are many reasons for the delay--far too many to detail in a few paragraphs.

But suffice it to say that despite the lengthy delays, the good news is the city never gave up on the plan, is giving bicycling more support now than ever before, and the result is, at long last, actual implementation the first on-the-ground-actually-installing-something phase of BikeKC.

(There has been planning and progress--including KCMO hiring its first ever bike/ped coordinator with part of the grant funding--but this represents the first actual infrastructure built with those grants.)

So three cheers to KCMO for finally getting it done!

Here is the city's press release:

The City of Kansas City, Mo., Public Works Department has started
the second phase of the KC Bicycle Transportation Initiative, which will
remove obstacles that impede the smooth operation of bicycles by replacing,
adjusting or retrofitting existing drainage grates, drop inlets, curb
inlets, and utility lids on about 40 miles of roadway.

"Once the on-road obstacles have been resolved, work will begin to install
bike route and share the road signs on the same 40 miles of roadway," said
Deb Ridgway, the City's bicycle and pedestrian coordinator. "This is just
one of many steps along the road to making Kansas City a more bike-friendly
community."

Blue Nile Engineering is performing the work, which is funded by a grant
from the federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality program.
Media inquiries about the City's bicycle and pedestrian initiatives should
be directed to Dennis Gagnon, public information officer for the City's
Public Works Department, (816) 513-2659.