Missouri Bicycling, Walking, Running, and Trails News

Overland Park, KS, discusses bike trail, traffic calming Feb 3rd

Overland Park is holding a meeting Monday February 3rd at 7:30PM in the council chamber at City Hall, 8500 Santa Fe Drive, to discuss a bike hike trail and other capital improvements, and the implementation of traffic calming measures in various areas of the city.

Traffic calming measures would help make city streets friendlier for pedestrians and cyclists.

If you wish to submit email comments about these issues, send them to city@opkansas.org.

For more information, call (913) 895-6000 or visit the city's web site at www.opkansas.org.

More details in an article on the KCStar.
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Drunk driving, repeat offenders discussed in Joplin

Today's Joplin Independent has has a lengthy article on the problem of drunk driving and repeat traffic offenders who maim and kill other road users.
Becky Greene of Neosho described her injuries and long, costly rehabilation after being hit by a man driving under the influence of alcohol at 67 mph in a 25 mph zone, and how Ellen Lawrence told how her grandson had died immediately and how his mother had to have a mask to be presentable at her funeral because no one stopped a second-time offender from hitting their car at 80 mph.

MoBikeFed is planning to make tougher penalties for repeat offenders a major part of its legislative initiative during this session of the Missouri legislature. Want to help make Missouri safer for cyclists? Join the MoBikeFed-Announce email list--that will be our main method of contacting cyclists across the state to enlist their support when it is needed.
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Kansas woman convicted of attacking cyclists

A Kansas woman was convicted Wednesday of attacking two cyclists with her motor vehicle, causing them to crash.

The woman became enraged because the cyclists were riding two abreast on a two-lane highway. Kansas State law allows such two-abreast riding.

The woman passed the cyclists, stopped and shouted at them, and followed them closely for some distance (they had passed her vehicle while it was stopped). Finally the woman swerved around the cyclists, turned abruptly in front of them, and in doing so, clipped the wheel of one cyclist, causing that cyclist to fall to the pavement and the other, maneuvering to avoid colliding with the other bicycle and the automobile, to crash into the ditch.

The cyclists, who were riding in the Bike Across Kansas tour, were not seriously injured.

The woman was convicted of aggravated assault and reckless battery; she faces sentencing on March 31st. The assault is "aggravated" because it involves the use of a deadly weapon--in this case, the woman's automobile.

Under Kansas sentencing guidelines, the sentence for the woman's conviction on aggravated assault (the more serious of the two charges) is likely to be 11 to 34 months probation.

Under Kansas law, drivers who commit a felony involving the use of a vehicle have their drivers licenses revoked, or placed under court restriction for up to a year.

Read about the incident and the charges in an Oct 2002 Salina Journal article. The conviction is covered in in today's Salina Journal and an Associated Press story on the KansasCityChannel.com.
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Kansas City hosts region-wide Singletrack Summit and Festival, March 14-16, 2003

Pack up the bikes and hiking shoes and head to the Midwest Singletrack Advocacy Summit and Festival!

From March 14-16, 2003 mountain bikers and hikers from 14 states throughout the Midwest will converge on some of the best singletrack Kansas City has to offer to promote and celebrate singletrack trails.

This year we will again feature presentations on various subjects that are designed to assist anyone interested in developing or maintaining primitive singletrack trails.

"This year, we will provide everyone attending the Summit with the chance to sample the newest products on the market while riding great singletrack," says Brad Davis, one of the Summit organizers. "The National Mountain Bike Patrol will also provide guided singletrack trail rides throughout the course of the day. Of course, we will continue to offer a great line up of guest speakers to promote advocacy."

The Summit will be held at Landahl Forest Reserve in Blue Springs, MO, home of one of the best networks of single-track trails in the region.

For more info, visit the IMBA web site or the EarthRiders web site.
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Raytown, MO, forming bike/ped advisory committee

Raytown, Missouri, is forming a bike/ped advisory committee as part of its plan to create a city-wide bike/ped plan. The bicycle part of the plan is to create an on-street network of bicycle routes on approximately a 1/2-mile square grid (ie, every Raytown resident will be within 1/4 mile of a bike route), and to develop and create multi-use paths wherever possible.

If you are interested in being a part of the committee, or just in being informed of developments, please email Brent Hugh (bhugh@mwsc.edu).
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Riding 10,000 miles in a year . . .

Columnist Ed Chasteen of the Sun-News (Liberty, MO) writes this:
. . . Actually, I expect to behind schedule coming into April. The black ice that lurks about on the road in the Missouri winter has taken me down before.

Without warning I've lost all traction and steering and have fallen hard on my hip and elbow. Nothing ever has broken, but weeks have passed before the pain and soreness left and I could again pedal freely.

The stationary bicycle in my basement numbs my mind. Even in the dead of winter, I prefer the open road, and in an ordinary year, that's where I would be.

But this is no ordinary year. I have publicly committed myself to ride 10,000 miles.

Read the rest of Ed's column here . . .
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Article

Kansas City Chapter--American Public Works Association Draft Guidelines - Bicycle Facilities--guidelines that can be used by area cities in designing their bicycle facilities.
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Article

A series of public service announcements about cycling development by BikeMaine. You can watch the videos online or order a VHS tape for $10.
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Article

UK Driver's Manual, which integrates bicycle/ped info with motor vehicle info in a very good way--a model for other driver's manuals.
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Amtrak needs your help now

MoBikeFed president Bob Foster posted this today:

Right now, this week, the Missouri Senate is discussing funding for many programs, including debating the fate of Amtrak. If you care about being able to go car-free to KC, Jeff City or Hermann; if you care about doing the Katy Trail and biking back; if you care about a choice besides staring at the 700 million billboards and being tailgated by 14 billion semis on Hwy 70 -- then take a moment to call or write an enote to your state senator. The highway lobby is working to choke Amtrak to death. So's the trucking industry. Unless each of us speaks up, they win.

As you know, right now Amtrak carries bikes for a $10 charge and it stops near Katy trailheads in Washington, Hermann, Jeff City, and Sedalia.

Here's contact info: http://www.senate.state.mo.us/03info/senalpha.htm
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Lee's Summit plans for Longview Road

Lee's Summit, MO, is soliciting public comment about their plans for reconstruction of Longview Road between 350 Hwy and Longview Lake. You can read some details on the Lee's Summit web site.

The plan includes curb and sidewalk on both sides of the road, as well as a short segment of bicycle path. It is unclear what on-road bicycle accommodations are planned.

A public meeting is being held at Longview Baptist Church, 1300 Longview Road, on Wednesday, January 29, 2003, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Comments can be sent to Scott.Eason@lees-summit.mo.us or (816) 969-7307.
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William Least Heat-Moon speaks at Ozark Greenways Thursday

Missouri author William Least Heat-Moon (Blue Highways and River-Horse) will speak at the Ozark Greenways meeting in Springfield on Thursday, January 30th, 2003.

Also to be announced at the meeting are a number of new and planned trails in the Springfield area.

For more details and a summary of the planned trails, see the article in today's Springfield News-Leader.
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Join MoBikeFed's Advocacy Network

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