Why bike/ped river crossings are needed in Kansas City (and everywhere!)

KCStar columnist Mike Hendricks devoted a column recently to the reasons bicycle/pedestrian accessible crossings are needed in the Kansas City area--where we currently have none.

Mike starts out describing his experience crossing KC's Broadway Bridge:

No sidewalks. All you’ve got to walk on is a thin strip of raised concrete where the railings attach to the deck.

That’s no problem, so long as you don’t trip and fall into traffic or wind up impaled on a piece of driftwood floating below on the Big Muddy.

Actually, it’s nothing to joke about. Almost every time I drive across the Broadway Bridge, I’ll see somebody walking that ribbon of concrete like a circus acrobat.

By foot, it’s the only way to get from downtown to the downtown airport, Harlem and areas beyond.

None of the other crossings over the Missouri in the downtown area is fit for pedestrians.

Certainly not the two railroad bridges.

And not the Paseo or the Heart of America bridges, either.

In fact, the last time Kansas City built a downtown Missouri River bridge that took pedestrians into consideration was ASB Bridge.

When it opened in 1911, it had wide sidewalks on either side of the roadway.

But those walkways got narrower as the bridge went from two to four lanes, and then they disappeared when the bridge was closed to all but rail traffic in 1992.

Kind of gives you the impression that Kansas City isn’t a very pedestrian-friendly place, eh?

Even now the Missouri Department of Transportation is resisting suggestions that a pedestrian pathway be put on a new or improved Paseo Bridge.

Right now MoBikeFed is working in cooperation with Kansas City area bicycle, walking, running, and pedestrian groups to advocate for the first bike/ped accessible river crossing(s) in the region.

You can help out by weighing in with MoDOT here.