Kansas City River Crossing Task Force moves forward

Laurie Chipman, Sarah Gibson (of Greater KC Bike Fed), Dale Crawford (Greater KC Bike Fed & Johnson County Bicycle Club), and numerous representatives of area cities, counties, MoDOT, KDOT, and other governmental bodies met today to discuss the first draft of the KC River Crossings Task Force.

A separated bike/ped accommodation on the proposed new Paseo freeway bridge could look like this one on the new Page Avenue Extension Missouri River Bridge in the St. Louis area

This process is going very, very well. A very good draft proposal was presented. It basically follows the model federal policy for bike/ped accommodation--which is a BIG step forward for our area. Under the new policy, any new bridge (over the KS or MO Rivers, which is all this committee is considering--for now) would have to have bike & ped accommodation. The exception is roads where bicyclists & pedestrians are not allowed to operated (like freeways) but even there the requirement is to consider bike/ped accommodation within that corridor, perhaps as a barrier separated path built as part of the bridge.

The good news is, everyone is basically in agreement about this. There is discussion about nuances of wording and so on but no one is in fundamental disagreement with the idea that bicyclists & pedestrians should be accommodated on these bridges.

The other good news, and one reason MoBikeFed has taken such an active part in working on this regional policy, is that the ramifications of it in the region and across the state are huge.

This is, basically, one of the first "complete streets" policies in Missouri.

It will be a model for similar policies across the state.

It will be a model for similar policies (when it comes time, for instance, to consider policies for bridges across other rivers or across obstacles like rail yards) in the Kansas City region.

Previous coverage of this issue.