How to make your downtown bike/ped friendly--on a budget

Missouri Bicycle Federation correspondent and Kansas City Kansas resident Randy Niere writes:

When in Jefferson City in March for the legislature day, it was noted in my presence that Missouri just couldn't afford to complete the streets on local budgets.

I offer you Strawberry Hill, and Downtown KCKS, a very economically depressed area, and its ever increasingly pedestrian and cycling environment.

Minnesota Street runs right through a neighborhood and business center. It also connects rather directly to the nearby interstate freeway. Until recently, most cars drove as though they were still on the freeway, making the area very unpleasant to visit.

With the addition of traffic calming measures, the area is attractive, walkable, bicycleable, and thriving.

(See the complete photo set with captions here.)