Transportation for Everyone: Why a rural Missouri County wants better, safer walking and bicycling--and Complete Streets

MacDonald County, in the far southwestern corner of Missouri, has been a leader in bringing better, safer walking, bicycling, and Complete Streets to rural Missouri.

Missouri Livable Streets

Why is the County so interested in doing this? Missouri Livable Streets sat down with some community leaders to get the answers:

When I sat down to talk with leaders from communities working with Missouri Livable Streets communities, I suspected I would hear a lot about the healthy living benefits to passing these policies. But when I sat down to talk to Paige Behm from McDonald County, I was in for a surprise.

Behm is the health administrator for McDonald County Health Department and when we talked about why she thought there was a need for sidewalks and livable streets, she was quick with her answer.

“Poverty is a big issue here. We really don’t have public transportation… so, it makes it difficult for people who don’t have transportation,” said Behm. “What they are having to do is rely on other people to get to and from where they need to go. But if they need [a ride] or [are] relying on [others] to get to work, that is a real issue. If you don’t get to work on time, you loose your job, and that just keeps you in poverty.”

Behm’s comment was eye-opening. McDonald County sits at the far southwestern corner of the state. According to County Health Rankings 2014 data, out of the 115 counties in Missouri (including St. Louis City), McDonald ranks 97th in health outcomes. Its residents experience high rates of obesity and other chronic disease, and many are uninsured.

One reason southwest Missouri is so interested in bringing better bicycling and walking to their communities is that they are immediately adjacent to northwest Arkansas, and area that has invested a significant amount of time and money into created regional bicycle, pedestrian, and trail networks. This infrastructure has become a major benefit to residents of the region--but also a major economic development and tourism generator.

Communities in southwest Missouri see themselves as becoming part of that major regional bicycle network.

And why not?

Recently, the regional planning commission held a series of public meetings to discuss connecting Arkansas' Razorback Trail into southwest Missouri and then, over the next several years, connecting the entire four-county region into the regional trail system.

Read more about that effort here.

Bringing Complete Streets and local, regional, and statewide bicycle, pedestrian, and trails systems to Missouri helps us achieve one of the most important goals in MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri--to create a complete, connected, world-class bicycle, pedestrian, and trails system across Missouri.

Your ongoing membership and generous financial support helps turn our Vision into reality!