Workshops address walkability in Missouri cities

The Mid-America Regional Council recently sponsored a series of walkability workshops around the Kansas City metro area. One of these was held in Parkville--the issues are similar in most Missouri cities:

Parkville city leaders walked the streets Monday in an effort to learn how “walkable” their city is.

The workshop, hosted by the Mid-America Regional Council and the National Center for Bicycling and Walking, was the first workshop of eight in the metro area. The workshop aimed to identify areas where the city could improve access for pedestrians and bicyclists, promoting a healthier environment.

Mark Fenton, a public health and transportation consultant and host of PBS' “America's Walking,” led the workshop. He said the overall aim is to make the city one that promotes physical activity. In the past 20 years, the number of people walking or riding bicycles to places has proportionately lowered as obesity has increased, he said.

“It's an epidemic of physical inactivity,” he said. . . .

Walkers discovered bridges with no sidewalks, busy intersections too difficult to cross and curbs that the physically disabled and those with strollers could not access easily. One group, walking through the downtown area, spoke about connecting Park University to the rest of the city. For students to reach the downtown area now, they have to go down a set of stairs and cross a bridge that has what could be called a sidewalk but resembles extra asphalt set off to the side. . .

As conversations wrapped up, Fenton discussed implementing the ideas that have surfaced. Planning is the first step, and everything will fall into line after that, he said.

“Money, in the end, is not the barrier,” he said. . . .

In the end, the conversation even surprised Fenton.

“I think you guys are in much better shape than I thought,” he said. “The core pieces of the puzzle are here. I am very optimistic.”

Similar workshops were held in Independence and Blue Springs:

Independence workshop participants went for a motivating 30-minute walk to study the good and the bad.

"Pretend we have a 7-year-old and a 70-year-old with us. How would they get around?" Fenton said.

On Crysler Avenue, just a block to the east of the school, the sidewalk was cracked, eroded and riddled with obstacles like slopes and trash. And then, there was the traffic whizzing by.

Group members said they did not feel very safe walking from Linden Street, north to Railroad Cut. They rated the stretch a two out of 10.