Official - KCMO Light Rail

[warwickland]

On November 7th, 2006, the citizens of Kansas City, Missouri approved Question 2, which reads as follows -


In order to provide for the people of Kansas City a pioneering urban rail passenger system, constituting the foundation of a future regional transit system, offering not only increased energy-efficiency, comfort, mobility, transportation savings, and convenience, but also a greener, cleaner, safer environment, a stronger economy, and a means to help America reduce its dependence on imported oil; shall the City of Kansas City, Missouri extend the current three-eighths (3/8) cent transportation sales tax, due to expire on March 31, 2009, for 25 years, beginning April 1, 2009 and ending March 31, 2034, with said tax to be used solely to fund the construction, operation, maintenance, and beautification of the following transportation improvements under the auspices of the Kansas City, Missouri City Council:


1.        Implement Kansas City’s new Heartland Light Rail System consisting of a north/south light rail spine beginning at the Kansas City Zoo in Swope Park and ending at Kansas City International Airport including, but not limited to, stops at UMKC, Nelson Art Gallery, Plaza, Westport, Union Station, Performing Arts Center, Convention Center, Power & Light District, Sprint Center, City Market area, North Kansas City, North Oak Trafficway, and Zona Rosa; with the route following 63rd Street, Troost Avenue, 50th          Street, Rockhill Road, Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard, Mill Creek Park, Broadway Boulevard, along the high ridge in Penn Valley Park to the junction of Kessler Road and Pershing Road, the west side of Union Station’s Carriage House, Broadway Boulevard, 13th Street, Oak Street, Heart of America Bridge, Burlington Avenue, N. Oak Trafficway, Englewood Road, Waukomis Drive, the interurban right-of-way, Barry Road, Amity Avenue, and concluding at a transit hub, park & ride lot, and shuttle station near Madrid Avenue at KCI; also including new ground level power supply technology (no overhead wires), and park & ride lots;


2.        Implement a green fleet of sixty electric shuttles to provide connecting transit service to all light rail stops making possible the expansion of the light rail system’s service area to nearby job centers, neighborhoods, and other primary destinations not directly served by the rail line;


3.        Implement an aerial gondola tram system providing passenger service between Union Station, Liberty Memorial, and Penn Valley Park; remove all thru vehicular roads, including Broadway, in the park and re-route traffic around the park; replace roads with landscaped transportation corridors for new bicycle & walking pathways, the gondola, and a wooden light rail truss bridge; with the funds also to be used to retire bond indebtedness related to the projects, and to help secure additional federal, state, and regional transportation funds?


The proposed LRT route looks approximately like this (courtesy of Bahua) -

North


South


Here is a couple of pictures of the stated Ground Level Power Supply technology as applied to an LRT system in Bordeaux, France-









KC Light Rail Wiki-

http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/wiki/index ... Light_Rail

[49r]

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[49r]

I still think this is the ideal route through the core.  You hit P&L, West X-Roads, Union Station, IRS, Fed Reserve, BMA tower, PVCC, Uptown Theater, Westport, Plaza, Nelson-Atkins, UMKC, Rockhill, Troost corridor, all with only a few turns.

Not to mention there's about a million extension options for spurs branching off around the US, Westport, Plaza, Emanual Cleaver II...

[smitherton]

are there any groundbreaking dates yet???

[KCMax]

are there any groundbreaking dates yet???

That's not going to happen for a few years.

[warwickland]

are there any groundbreaking dates yet???

(i meant to quote you, not modify your post!)

no i dont believe so...obviously the city government is still in a paralyzing state of shock, as am i (in a good way). i'd like to see barnes step up and say "lets roll," but i doubt she was prepared for this!!! i'd be more optimistic that mr. cauthen is planning on ordering a gold plated shovel than anyone.

[Highlander]

The route through the core is absolutely hopeless.  Why through PVP?  Why avoid CC?  Why avoid the Main Corridor at all.  This route is built for MINIMUM ridership.  For gods sake, think this one through before anything gets invested. 

[ShowMeKC]

Wow, a lot of people on here are discussing it like the other Light Rail threads don't exist lol.

Could we at least merge the threads into this one major one or something like that? We already have 1 in the Kansas section, and now 3 here in the transportation section. If someone comes in with new information, it may be put in one of the other threads instead of this one.

[KansasCityCraka]

I think it is funny how everyone is already pissed off with the preliminary route. We still have 2-4 years before anything is started, in that time many things will change so quit your bitchin' we got what many of us have wanted for MANY years.

[smitherton]

is this not the "official thread"?

[ShowMeKC]

Craka, if you'll notice, at the moment, City Hall is legally binded to the exact route in the proposal. The only thing they can legally do is reject the vote and come up with a new one. So we have to come up with new ideas for new routes and sort of, help speed up the process.

[KansasCityCraka]

Who cares what the route is? It will be expanded upon in the future to incorporate more locations....

As of right now it goes from KCI, Close to the DT Airport, Sprint Center, Power & Light District, Penn Valley Park, Plaza, UMKC, and Swope Park....I think that is a very good start.

[warwickland]

is this not the "official thread"?

im on a crappy computer and a crappy internet connection that does weird things and my mouse clicks on things it shouldnt when i get angry at it, and somehow this ended up in this room - hopefully it will be erased soon. i started a new OFFICIAL thread to discuss the implementation of the light rail plan as is, and hypothetical routes, etc, will go into:

http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/newforum/i ... c=10497.80