KCRag Forum

this plan has advanced to the parking and transportation commission, the final approval before it can be put out to bid.

Does anyone know why the UMB building doesn't have street trees along Grand--even though there are planting wells on the sidewalk? I also noticed that there are no street trees in the planting wells along E 11th, or Walnut, on the UMB frontage.

There are street trees along E. 11th between Walnut and Main, and on the west side of Walnut between 10th and 11th.

http://tinyurl.com/p4aqkgh

On another note, there are really not many street trees along Grand between 6th and 13th streets. Does the City plan to add them as part of the redo of Grand?

FangKC wrote:Does anyone know why the UMB building doesn't have street trees along Grand--even though there are planting wells on the sidewalk? I also noticed that there are no street trees in the planting wells along E 11th, or Walnut, on the UMB frontage.

There are street trees along E. 11th between Walnut and Main, and on the west side of Walnut between 10th and 11th.

http://tinyurl.com/p4aqkgh

On another note, there are really not many street trees along Grand between 6th and 13th streets. Does the City plan to add them as part of the redo of Grand?

i'd guess there are still sidewalk vaults there that weren't filled in.

Star calls out lethargic pace of downtown bike improvemnts, specifically on Grand:

http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/edito ... 01780.html

What businesses are slowing this?

KCPowercat wrote:What businesses are slowing this?

it's not just businesses. city staff is being overly cautious for no apparent reason.

"The typical Kansas City way of doing things — let’s talk, compromise, and then talk some more — is responsible for some of the frustrating delays. Property owners along Grand as well as on 18th Street, Southwest Boulevard and 20th Street questioned how the new bike lanes could affect them, especially when it came to parking. Ultimately, a lot of the on-street parking was kept in place.

“Each of those street segments has very unique issues,” said Deb Ridgway, bicycle pedestrian coordinator in the Public Works Department.

Even with those talks finished, the city now must get a final design report on the Grand Boulevard project, which will require approval from the Missouri Department of Transportation because it controls the requested federal funds.

Then the city will have to get bids on the re-striping program, which will be done with paint, not more permanent thermoplastic striping. Downtown business critics of bike lanes want the city to be able to change back to the status quo if the road diet fails in some ways."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/edito ... rylink=cpy

What's interesting about that article is via twitter we know the engineer on the enlarged loop project was looking into which type of thermoplastic to use to mark the lanes.

It would be strange to use one product for every street except Grand.

The Grand project was sold to some of the downtown interests as "just paint" to assuage their concerns about ZOMG TEH TRAFFIC. Of course, the city's traffic model proved that with just 3 lanes Grand maintains an exemplary (excessive) Level of Service during both peaks.

I could tell you that.

I have done u-turns in the 1100 block of Grand during rush hour.

supposedly the 'downtown bike loop' project will start construction in late-june and will complete this year.

DaveKCMO wrote:supposedly the 'downtown bike loop' project will start construction in late-june and will complete this year.

haha, real funny

Without crosswalks across Grand at 16th and 17th, apparently.

Eon Blue wrote:Without crosswalks across Grand at 16th and 17th, apparently.

Are signals being added at 16th or 17th?

70-954
Unless otherwise directed by a pedestrian control signal as provided in section 70-956, pedestrians facing any green signal, except when the sole green signal is a turn arrow, may proceed across the roadway within any marked or unmarked crosswalk.

16th street:



17th street:

I'm amazed how often I see people dangerously scramble across Main at 17th (where they left out crosswalks), a location just a block or two from the future convention center. These intersections on Grand will be the same.

I wonder if the Resurrection Church could have any pull on the matter, since it will directly effect the walkability of the block they are purchasing.

.

KC has a bad mix on pedestrian rights.

From Admiral to Truman S the law says people have to cross at a signal but cars have to yield. This is because every intersection has a signal on those blocks
Truman S to 18th people have to yield to cars but can cross anywhere in the block.
Look at 5th from Grand to Delaware and people can cross at every intersection and mid block. they have the right at intersections but have to yield mid block.

I would like to see city code allow crossing at intersections and cars yield anywhere downtown regardless of how the street is setup.

mgh7676 wrote:I wonder if the Resurrection Church could have any pull on the matter, since it will directly effect the walkability of the block they are purchasing.

thanks for the idea!

crosswalks at 16th and 17th will be added later. nothing in the current plan precludes this. KCATA has requested some tweaks to the 18th street plan (to on-street parking, not the bike lane).