Best Local Trails

[Cratedigger]

Also connections with the incredibly underused and difficult to get to tennis courts. Sounds like the Westwood Park/West Plaza neighborhoods are trying to put together a PIAC request to activate that area

[shinatoo]

Brush Creek Trail is really a hidden gem of KC in my opinion. It goes right by the plaza, Theis Park, Kaufmann Legacy Park. I just wish it got as much investment as Indian Creek/Tomahawk Creek gets.

For some reason, it ends going west right before Roanoke Parkway. Has there ever been any attempt to extend it further west? It can't be that expensive to add some pavement to Ward Parkway median right? If you could get the trail all the way to Westwood Rd, you would make it a lot more feasible for people from Ward Parkway/NE Johnson County/West Plaza to bike down to the plaza & streetcar without having to get on high speed Ward Parkway or 47th. It's less than half a mile!

That's my main trail. Would like to get the stadium gap closed to Rock Island Trial. I like your west idea too.

[missingkc]

I was in KC last week and found myself on Briarcliff Greenway Park. It's not long and isn't isolated - you're never out of view of houses. But, the ravine it runs down has a collection of the most magnificent trees I've ever seen in the KC area or even western Missouri. Many I'm sure well over a hundred feet tall and beautifully formed. If you love trees, it's well worth a visit.

[bobthebiker]

For some reason, it ends going west right before Roanoke Parkway. Has there ever been any attempt to extend it further west? It can't be that expensive to add some pavement to Ward Parkway median right? If you could get the trail all the way to Westwood Rd, you would make it a lot more feasible for people from Ward Parkway/NE Johnson County/West Plaza to bike down to the plaza & streetcar without having to get on high speed Ward Parkway or 47th. It's less than half a mile!

The meeting I had with prospective owners of the plaza I brought this up as one of the priorities that they should really be focused on. The trail should be extended to Westwood Rd and should have a crossing section over where the current entrances now.
The current entrances leave a lot to be desired and should absolutely be addressed in the interim. They seemed very receptive to these ideas and if there's anyone ever gets the chance to talk to them it can't hurt to bring it up!
I think it would go a long way to making brush creek more utilized and a mode of travel to the plaza. There needs to be just general maintenance of the trail in general. The dirt/mud on the path should absolutely be addressed in some manner even if it's just running street sweepers over it after it rains.

[bobthebiker]

I'm hopeful the new owners will realize that the connections to neighborhoods absolutely matter and the state of those connections whether they be difficult crossing, muddy paths, too many cars, should absolutely receive similar attention that the actual plaza proper gets.

[mjbauer95]

I'm hopeful the new owners will realize that the connections to neighborhoods absolutely matter and the state of those connections whether they be difficult crossing, muddy paths, too many cars, should absolutely receive similar attention that the actual plaza proper gets.

Agreed. But would the plaza owners have a say over the trail? I thought that median was treated like a city park.

[mjbauer95]

Apparently extending Brush Creek is part of MARC's MetroGreen plan FWIW. I don't think that says much though, without the city willing to put up money for it.

MetroGreen map:

https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/view ... 8f7230430f

[mjbauer95]

The Kansas part of the MetroGreen plan interests me a lot, but I'm quite skeptical Fairway/Mission Hills would ever agree to letting a trail go through their boundaries. Fairway/Mission Hills don't even have sidewalks though, hard to see them wanting to encourage outsides into their community. Prairie Village has done a great job building out their bike/trail systems, though, so maybe they could be convinced!

[smh]

A nice video summation of the Woodchuk Run trail in Swope Park. Very scenic area with Ozark-like outcrops and pretty rugged terrain. Extremely underutilized part of the park used mostly by mountain bike riders. Spring would be a great time to do this trail when the foliage allows some nice views - not sure I'd want to do it in the heat of summer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atGV5E_FTfQ

This is something I did not know existed, thanks for sharing!

[herrfrank]

The Kansas part of the MetroGreen plan interests me a lot, but I'm quite skeptical Fairway/Mission Hills would ever agree to letting a trail go through their boundaries. Fairway/Mission Hills don't even have sidewalks though, hard to see them wanting to encourage outsides into their community. Prairie Village has done a great job building out their bike/trail systems, though, so maybe they could be convinced!

Hmmmm. Those are existing roads that provide the only access to residences. What are they proposing, for example, on Seneca (in Mission Hills) ? Or on State Park Road in Fairway? There is a tributary of Brush Creek alongside that road with a wide green, but it dead-ends at the KCCC on one side and the MHCC on the other. The tiny brook on Seneca is private property, and the homeowners would not be happy to grant an easement there, nor on the narrow bit of Wenonga Road on that map. Maybe on Indian Lane south of 63d Street, but north of there you have the KCCC again.

[mjbauer95]

The Kansas part of the MetroGreen plan interests me a lot, but I'm quite skeptical Fairway/Mission Hills would ever agree to letting a trail go through their boundaries. Fairway/Mission Hills don't even have sidewalks though, hard to see them wanting to encourage outsides into their community. Prairie Village has done a great job building out their bike/trail systems, though, so maybe they could be convinced!

Hmmmm. Those are existing roads that provide the only access to residences. What are they proposing, for example, on Seneca (in Mission Hills) ? Or on State Park Road in Fairway? There is a tributary of Brush Creek alongside that road with a wide green, but it dead-ends at the KCCC on one side and the MHCC on the other. The tiny brook on Seneca is private property, and the homeowners would not be happy to grant an easement there, nor on the narrow bit of Wenonga Road on that map. Maybe on Indian Lane south of 63d Street, but north of there you have the KCCC again.

Yeah would be interesting to know how exactly they came up with that route. Most likely they asked an intern to piece together a starting blueprint - it's not like MARC has any authority over the cities. The basic gist I see is: "we'd like a greenway following roughly the course of Brush Creek" and there's probably an expectation that any work would involve a lot of decisions from cities.

[mjbauer95]

If anyone from MARC ever reads this thread, here would be my revised version of metrogreen for this area: red is new shared use path, blue is sharrows, and green is bike lanes. This would tie both rock creek trail and brush creek trail together at 53rd and mission as well . The main goal is to avoid having any bikes on shawnee mission parkway, reuse existing residential roads where it makes sense, and following existing plans (mission rd is supposed to get bike lanes, fairway master planhas a shared use path on that side of smp). Ideally we would have some kind of enhanced crossing at johnson dr and roe, as well rainbow and 50th - at both you'd be crossing diagonally, so ideally would have some kind of diagonal "scramble" shared use crossing.