Bike Lanes

[longtimelistener]

I had moved out of state for most of 2020-21 and in that time the Gillham cycle track was mostly finished. The improvements in safety and ease of use from before the lane was installed to now cannot be understated. The streets I would previously take to make a trip north/south used to be a hodgepodge that zigged and zagged through midtown. I don't think I've ridden north on any other route since I've been back. The continuous lane is a game changer that streamlines and speeds up bike travel considerably. The amount of community use anecdotally appears to increase as I see bikers, runner/walkers, scooters, etc using the lane which in my opinion further reinforces its need. Bout time we induced some demand in a mode of transport that wasn't a car.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

Not KCMO bike lane related, but drove through DT Olathe earlier this morning, and saw near where the old courthouse building was that they’ve added protected bike lanes going south on Kansas Ave through the DT area. If I’m not mistaken these will be the first protected bike lanes on public ROW in JOCO!

[gfenn11]

The cycletrack on 19th has been painted.

Interesting that the city has removed the protected part of the PBL on Grand- in front of the Ambassador Hotel. Bollards/concrete have also never been installed in front of UMB, so drivers still block it mid-block.

[FlippantCitizen]

I passed by a guy on the Gillham cycle track yesterday that had 3 kids on the long tail of his Rad Power Wagon. Very, very, cool to see. That's all.

[DColeKC]

Honest question. How do you bicycle folks get your way so often? I have eyes on our downtown bike lanes often and rarely see them in use. I have seen more use than ever before recently after Grand got done. They got the delineators installed today btw.

Whatever tactics you all use to get things done should be applied to other items we want downtown. Teach us your ways.

[FlippantCitizen]

Honest question. How do you bicycle folks get your way so often? I have eyes on our downtown bike lanes often and rarely see them in use. I have seen more use than ever before recently after Grand got done. They got the delineators installed today btw.

Whatever tactics you all use to get things done should be applied to other items we want downtown. Teach us your ways.

When you say you don't see them used are you just talking about Grand over the last few years? Because the Grand bike lanes are the bear minimum and present a minimal improvement from just sharing the road. Not exactly a magnet for use. High quality infrastructure like the Gillham cycle track really draws the crowds. Yesterday I biked to Mother Earth Coffee for a meeting and to get some work done then rode around enjoying the nice weather. Kids were just getting out of school and many were cycling, I saw a number of folks on E-bikes in normal clothing (e.g. not recreating but transporting themselves.) I saw more than one adult transporting a child in a a child seat, and in the case of one intrepid guy, he was carrying 3 kids on one bike.

As for tactics, well an advocacy group like BikeWalk KC helps. Good luck getting the grassroots to support bulldozing the Crossroads for a Royals stadium and master development But also it just speaks for itself. If you can get infrastructure in place that allows kids to transport themselves independently, allows a parent to transport 3 kids on an EV with a battery needing 1% of the rare earths as a Tesla at 2% of the cost, if you can get the city on a better trajectory towards climate goals, bring more opportunity to people who can't afford a car, get more eyes on the street creating more p2p engagement/crime deterrence, reduce vehicle miles traveled so wear and tear on street infrastructure decreases... I could go on and on. Any major city not pursuing serious bike infrastructure as a strategy for any number of ends is living far far in the past. People are biting on it too, quit looking at Grand and go take a look at the intersection of Gillham and Armour in decent weather. People were out in force on the cycle track yesterday.

[KCPowercat]

Honest question. How do you bicycle folks get your way so often? I have eyes on our downtown bike lanes often and rarely see them in use. I have seen more use than ever before recently after Grand got done. They got the delineators installed today btw.

Whatever tactics you all use to get things done should be applied to other items we want downtown. Teach us your ways.

Guess my question would be what are the negatives to providing bike infrastructure? I don't bike often but I appreciate providing a safe biking experience for those who do. I see many of our streets empty for hours at a time, does that mean they shouldn't be there?

Who is the us? What are you looking for funding for that you can't get?

[kboish]

One tactic i think they have used is something like 25-30 years of lobbying for bike infrastructure. you're just now seeing the fruits of a long, long, push for this.

[KCPowercat]

We have such a surplus of street infrastructure that is not used and caused unsafe speeds for peds/bikes/cars, if anything the road diet is making us all safer even if those bike lanes aren't used one time.

[shinatoo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU&t=261s

Good video on the factors that drive bike adoption in cities based on some recent studies of terrain, weather, income, and availability.

[TheUrbanRoo]

Honest question. How do you bicycle folks get your way so often? I have eyes on our downtown bike lanes often and rarely see them in use. I have seen more use than ever before recently after Grand got done. They got the delineators installed today btw.

Whatever tactics you all use to get things done should be applied to other items we want downtown. Teach us your ways.

I don't know much about this subject, but my guess is that nobody takes the bike lanes seriously because cars are always driving & parking on them, and they don't seem safe because of that. We really need that Grand Grand plan.

[Cratedigger]

Honest question. How do you bicycle folks get your way so often? I have eyes on our downtown bike lanes often and rarely see them in use. I have seen more use than ever before recently after Grand got done. They got the delineators installed today btw.

Whatever tactics you all use to get things done should be applied to other items we want downtown. Teach us your ways.

I don't know much about this subject, but my guess is that nobody takes the bike lanes seriously because cars are always driving & parking on them, and they don't seem safe because of that. We really need that Grand Grand plan.

The concern I have is that they are scattered. I use these bike lanes frequently and really hope one day there is more connection

[FlippantCitizen]

The concern I have is that they are scattered. I use these bike lanes frequently and really hope one day there is more connection

Same here.

[DaveKCMO]

If the road network were implemented in the same way as the bike (or ped) network, this bitching would be non-existent. Wouldn't you be pissed if roads just ended without signage or explanation?

[smh]

It is interesting to hear that "bike people" are getting their way. I lived in KC for a decade and all I wanted was to have choices in how I moved through the city. The MAX was good and useful, the streetcar significantly improved on the experience of moving through greater downtown. I occasionally rode a bike, depending on my destination, but mostly I did not ride a bike because it too often felt very unsafe or like I would need to go very far out of my way to find a safe route. On the other hand, cars dominate the width of every street in KC so even when I wanted to walk somewhere I was relegated to a sidewalk that too often was barely wide enough for two people to walk side by side and almost always required dodging shit in the footpath (light poles, streetcar poles, curb wedgessss).

Anyway, I guess this is a long way of saying I'm really enjoying from afar the Gilham bike route and I'd love to see these facilities become a default part of how we rebuild our streets. I don't think of it as something for "bike people", I think of it as creating options for how everyone moves around the city. Love of, or interest in, biking is not a prerequisite.

[HalcyonKC]

In addition to improving connectivity of the existing bike lane network, I'd like to see the city eventually pick a couple neighborhoods that spur off that network and put bike lanes on every other road in a grid for half a square mile or so, and then expand from there. Create some good biking oasis neighborhoods.

Personally I don't even own a bike (yet) but I like what it does for streetscape, walkability and quality of life. But we have to chisel away at the chicken-and-egg aspect where bike use will ramp up as the built environment increasingly supports it. I often watch the 'Not Just Bikes' youtube channel that shinatoo linked above, and I've slowly become convinced that bike infrastructure is an important part of a city not sucking--because of all the positive knock-on effects that accompany it.

[Anthony_Hugo98]

In addition to improving connectivity of the existing bike lane network, I'd like to see the city eventually pick a couple neighborhoods that spur off that network and put bike lanes on every other road in a grid for half a square mile or so, and then expand from there. Create some good biking oasis neighborhoods.

Personally I don't even own a bike (yet) but I like what it does for streetscape, walkability and quality of life. But we have to chisel away at the chicken-and-egg aspect where bike use will ramp up as the built environment increasingly supports it. I often watch the 'Not Just Bikes' youtube channel that shinatoo linked above, and I've slowly become convinced that bike infrastructure is an important part of a city not sucking--because of all the positive knock-on effects that accompany it.

Shit, I’m sold on the economics alone. That’s what I regularly try to explain to conservative friends/family, that built infrastructure that pedestrian/bike/transit oriented is nearly always going to be more cost effective than auto infrastructure, especially when you measure useful life, and lifetime maintenance. Creating a better, more livable environment is merely a cherry on top to me at this point

[smh]

Agree on all counts.

[gfenn11]

I don't know what others interactions have been as of late, but the city has actually started routinely street sweeping (at least in River Market), so hopefully that critical maintenance is extended to the cycle track/lanes.

Back to bike lanes though - I like how the removable posts have erased most problems encountered around P&L. But to really make it worth while, they:

1) Need to remove the short term parking for T-Mobile and make it a mobility hub, etc. (everyone double parks or ride share blocks the lane).

2) Get rid of the forced riding onto the sidewalk at 12th. Those bus stops are entirely too busy to have us bikes coming right at riders - most who aren't used to bikes being routed there. Just have us merge back into the lane before the stop.

3) Stop bowing down to the Ambassador on the northern stretch and put the damn posts back in. They also never painted or installed posts on the Southbound side in front of UMB before the bus stop. With both I've had either very close calls with hotel guests or cars parked against the curb routinely.

[FlippantCitizen]

Saw an Urban Arrow bakfiets style E-cargo bike out on the wide sidewalk off 143rd street between Switzer and Antioch. The sidewalk there is almost mixed use path kind of width. Got me to thinking why the hell so many streets in south JoCo have had a bike gutter striped onto the road in the last few years. Seems like a complete waste of time. 90+% of the bike traffic I have seen in south JoCo is on the sidewalk. Only the hardest of core roadies ride in the street where the flow of traffic often reaches or exceeds 50 mph.

Many of the sidewalks on the major arterials down there are already super wide. There should be a huge focus on getting the sidewalks on major arterials in the area widened if they are not all ready and the adding paint/signage/signals to help peds and bikes play nice with eachother and navigate the super stroad intersections that make me sweaty even in a car. The striping of bike gutters onto the roads down there is pointless. I have not noticed it contributing to any biking up-take what-so-ever.

It was cool to see someone, I think picking their kid up from school, on a front loading cargo bike like that and really made me reconsider what bike infrastructure down there could/should look like.