KCRag Forum

i would almost bet that alot of the perspective and current developers had a bitch about "main" being a one way street.

There are two streets in downtown that feel unsafe to cross, to me. These are Broadway and Grand. the craziest driving, and the heaviest traffic I have seen, has always been on these two.

glad to see that hasnt changed. i remember walking to work at 3 something every morning to get to the hyatt, and the town was so desolate, overnight and all, but walking back home around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, specially when you wanted to cross over grand to get back to main, you thought someone was going to come over that hill at like 70.

bahua wrote: There are two streets in downtown that feel unsafe to cross, to me. These are Broadway and Grand. the craziest driving, and the heaviest traffic I have seen, has always been on these two.

Michael® wrote: Grand is a freakin nightmare. I drive south thru the Crossroads every morning and cars are going a minimum of 50.

The city needs to develop landscaped islands in the center of Grand.  These islands could include flowers & other plantings, a fountain or two, etc. which would slow traffic.  Widen the sidewalks on Broadway, but don't slow traffic too much.  Every major city has at least one wide street running through it's downtown.  As much as many of you may hate it, the automobile is a part of American life, and some people would avoid downtown altogether if they had to drive at a snail's pace.      

QueSi2Opie wrote: The city needs to develop landscaped islands in the center of Grand.  These islands could include flowers & other plantings, a fountain or two, etc. which would slow traffic.

This idea was floated during the downtown streetscape plan.  The only problem with it is that putting medians on Grand would interfere with American Royal Parade, St. Patrick's Day Parade, and hopefully someday another ticker tape parade for a sports team.  The city wants to keep those on Grand instead of shifting them to another street.

This is happening this Saturday (Oct 15th).  The east side of Main between 10th & 11th will be no parking between 3pm - 6pm.

lock&load wrote: This is happening this Saturday (Oct 15th).  The east side of Main between 10th & 11th will be no parking between 3pm - 6pm.

I sure hope they are doing the ENTIRE road at once.  Otherwise the intersection of 11th & Main would be a nightmare for both pedestrians and motorists if that also becomes a spot where 2-way meets 1-way.    It's already dangerous enough as it is.

Walnut (CBD and Crossroads) and Baltimore (CBD) will be converted to 2-way traffic starting in March, with completion in May.
14th street between Broadway and Baltimore will also be converted to 2-way traffic during the same period.

DaveKCMO wrote:Walnut (CBD and Crossroads) and Baltimore (CBD) will be converted to 2-way traffic starting in March, with completion in May.
14th street between Broadway and Baltimore will also be converted to 2-way traffic during the same period.

all of Baltimore through 6th or will it stop at the jog at 9th?

flyingember wrote:

DaveKCMO wrote:Walnut (CBD and Crossroads) and Baltimore (CBD) will be converted to 2-way traffic starting in March, with completion in May.
14th street between Broadway and Baltimore will also be converted to 2-way traffic during the same period.

all of Baltimore through 6th or will it stop at the jog at 9th?

that segment is still being reviewed with property owners, last i heard. walnut is all clear between 5th and 20th.

Nice to see them already pouring concrete on Walnut for this. It's great to see this actually going forward.

walnut from truman to 20th converts to 2-way traffic this sunday, may 5 (making it continuously 2-way from 12th to 20th). the rest of walnut, as well as baltimore* and 14th, will convert on or around may 12.

*minus the 900 block of baltimore.

DaveKCMO wrote:walnut from truman to 20th converts to 2-way traffic this sunday, may 5 (making it continuously 2-way from 12th to 20th). the rest of walnut, as well as baltimore* and 14th, will convert on or around may 12.

*minus the 900 block of baltimore.

they aren't converting baltimore 6th to 9th either. wasn't even in the plan.

What are your thoughts about leaving some streets one way, but removing a lane or two so we can get angle parking added on one side or both sides? That would slow traffic and add much needed on-street parking for current or future retail that we wish existed. (I am not saying we have a parking shortage, but retail likes very close curbside parking with time limits).

slimwhitman wrote:What are your thoughts about leaving some streets one way, but removing a lane or two so we can get angle parking added on one side or both sides? That would slow traffic and add much needed on-street parking for current or future retail that we wish existed. (I am not saying we have a parking shortage, but retail likes very close curbside parking with time limits).

Most one ways are gone, or soon to be. No halting now.

There are minimum standards, in order for angled parking to be executed. Where possible, the city is instituting it. They are pretty impressively bullish in getting it installed where ever it is possible.

slimwhitman wrote:What are your thoughts about leaving some streets one way, but removing a lane or two so we can get angle parking added on one side or both sides?

no more angle parking downtown! why? it messes with putting in bike lanes. parallel parking takes up the width of a car. angle parking takes up a wider space

let's assume most of downtown is wide enough for 4 lanes worth of car lanes and in most places there's two driving lanes (walnut) or three driving lanes, one of which is a bus lane (Main) or there's just 4 dedicated car lanes (11th). there's exceptions but this is the case in most of downtown

you can't have three rows of parking on a slow car street. let's say with a conversion we don't need the extra lane, maybe we take out a parking lane the next street over instead. what's possible here is to take one lane away and put in a dedicated bike lane pairing, moving the parking over one lane. or just take it away but if we put in angled parking there's not enough space. now sharrows are the only good option.

One place a protected bike lane could easily replace a parking lane would be 9th St Main to Broadway. there's no need for the capacity the second WB lane provides. the light at Broadway isn't programmed to safely have the mismatched lanes on either side of Broadway (I hate this light EB on 9th). it also would connect a residential area to the streetcar

flyingember wrote: no more angle parking downtown! why? it messes with putting in bike lanes.

I am not a raging fan of dedicated bike lanes in the CBD. If traffic can be held to 25mph, cyclists should be able to keep up with flow and can have the whole lane. Sure...maybe a dedicated bike lane on one or two streets thru the CBD as part of a greater transportation network, but not on more than that. Once a cyclist gets off the main route, they should be able to flow thru the CBD at/near the speed of cars to get to their final destination. Maximizing car parking on-street to make retail more viable is more valuable to the CBD. The key is getting the design speed of the street down to 25mph so cylists (and pedestrians) feel more safe.

slimwhitman wrote:

flyingember wrote: no more angle parking downtown! why? it messes with putting in bike lanes.

I am not a raging fan of dedicated bike lanes in the CBD.

I'm not either, but I think it should be a high priority because it's much more safe to have a dedicated bike lane and it's less annoying to the typical driver as well. Doesn't have to be on every street, but need to have clear paths to get through north, south, east, west routes in various districts.

dedicated and protected bike lanes draw more people to bikes, period... whether it seems logical or you like it or don't.
same can be said for urban rail transit stops. you may disagree, but the data is there.

...not to mention that cycling makes increasingly more sense as densities rise.