Here is the best short summary of BikeKC I have been able to come up
with:
BikeKC is a plan to
* Add bicycle improvements to a network of already-existing streets.
This includes signs, bike lanes or wide curb lanes as appropriate,
hazard removal on these streets (grates, sunken manhole covers,
etc.), tuning the street lights, and other details.
* Create and encourage the creation of the infrastructure that
makes bicycling a viable transportation choice. Examples: bike
racks and bike lockers around town, showers in places of
employment.
* Encourage bicycling and educate bicycle riders and motorists about
safe practices.
* Reserve enough right-of-way in new developments so that new
streets will have enough room available for bicycle and pedestrian
improvements (improvements will not be added automatically,
unfortunately, but at least the right-of-way will be there).
* Put new Design Standards into Kansas City's Major Street Plan
specifying how roads with bicycle improvements will be designed.
* Create some off-street paths. BikeKC is a transportation
plan, though, so the (approx.) 10% of the routes that
are off-street are there only because they serve a
transportation purpose (and to placate the head of
the committee that had to pass BikeKC, who opposed on-street
improvements and vigorously lobbied to put all available
resources into off-road paths and also suggested banning
bicycles from certain "dangerous" streets).
You can find Kansas City's own summary of the plan (including street
grids and Design Standards) at
http://www.kcmo.org/pubworks.nsf/web/kcbike1
For easier-to-view (but slightly out-of-date) graphics of the street
grid and other info, see
http://www.bikekc.org
The plan is hard to summarize because it is a complex interlocking web
of legislation, amendments to legislation, policies, procedures,
plans, budget proposals, funding proposals, recommendations,
committees, and so on. You can see that even KCMO's web site just
lists different examples of what will happen and doesn't ever say
something like "here is the complete text of the Bike KC plan".
posted by Brent Hugh at
Sunday, August 25, 2002 |
permanently archived here
