Kansas City adopts groundbreaking Climate Protection Plan with bike/ped elements

The City Council of Kansas City, Missouri, adopted a groundbreaking Climate Protection Plan this week. Thanks to the advocacy of MoBikeFed working together with local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups and clubs, the plan will include some important bicycle and pedestrian elements:

• Commit to following the requirements for bicycle/pedestrian access in new and altered infrastructure.
  
• “Complete Streets” policy that all new construction and repair is considerate of a range of complementary uses, including transit, pedestrians & bicyclists
  
• 1% of all transportation infrastructure expenditures for bicycling; increase bicycling from 0.4% of all trips to 5.4% of all trips
  
• 2% of all transportation infrastructure expenditures for walking; increase walking from 3.9% of all trips to 8.9% of all trips

The report found that in the community at large, transportation was the largest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with about 35% of total emissions (see page 28).

The complete report (PDF format) is here--transportation-related recommendations are on pages 16 and 19. More on the Climate Protection Plan here.

If you live in Kansas City, it would be very helpful it you could contact your city council member, thank them for their support of the Climate Protection Plan, and ask them specifically to support the bicycle and pedestrian portions of the plan.