KCRag Forum

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:22 pm People choose Meyer because it’s wider and you can fly. Actually, most traffic is on Meyer for just one block coming from Wornall to Brookside Blvd or from Ward Pkwy. There’s not much traffic east of Brookside Blvd. Eliminating Brookside Blvd between Meyer and 63rd would allow for a very nice park, new activity options, or more shops facing the park where the parking is now. I don’t think you lose anything significant traffic wise.

I disagree -- despite the "calming" stop signs that went up 10 years ago east along Meyer Blvd, this was one of the primary routes to the area around Research Hospital. And for non-Plaza traffic (like museum visitors or Costco runs) coming from the South, Ward Parkway or Wornall to Meyer to Brookside Blvd is as fast as Southwest Trafficway.

We need north-south connections because the city spreads out along that axis. Terminating Brookside Blvd at 63d Street, I suspect, would really logjam that short block from Wornall.

herrfrank wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:49 pm And for non-Plaza traffic (like museum visitors or Costco runs) coming from the South, Ward Parkway or Wornall to Meyer to Brookside Blvd is as fast as Southwest Trafficway.

Exactly! We don’t need people flying through that area like SW Trafficway.

herrfrank wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 4:49 pm We need north-south connections because the city spreads out along that axis. Terminating Brookside Blvd at 63d Street, I suspect, would really logjam that short block from Wornall.

It would eliminate the congestion caused by people jogging the half block from Wornall to Brookside. Cars would move to a properly scaled Wornall to the Plaza or Ward Pkwy. This should be a concern more than commute times from Waldo to DT.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 3:22 pm

herrfrank wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:46 pm Studies indicate that passenger car traffic prefers Meyer Boulevard to 63d Street (and that was both how it was intended and how it has been in practice for nearly 100 years). If the city terminates Brookside Boulevard at 63d, we would lose an important boulevard to boulevard connection.

People choose Meyer because it’s wider and you can fly. Actually, most traffic is on Meyer for just one block coming from Wornall to Brookside Blvd or from Ward Pkwy. There’s not much traffic east of Brookside Blvd. Eliminating Brookside Blvd between Meyer and 63rd would allow for a very nice park, new activity options, or more shops facing the park where the parking is now. I don’t think you lose anything significant traffic wise.

Closing Brookside BLVD south of 63rd will push all the Brookside Blvd traffic onto 63rd, bad idea.

While we would lose the tennis courts I like the realignment Brookside BLVD with Brookside Road. Much cleaner intersection and allows for center medians. Would also get a nice little park.

shinatoo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:22 pm While we would lose the tennis courts I like the realignment Brookside BLVD north of Meyer with Brookside BLVD south of Meyer. Much cleaner intersection and allows for center medians. Would also get a nice little park.

There is no Brookside Blvd south of Meyer. It is Brookside Road and it is a residential street. Through traffic is intended for Wornall.

lock+load wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:27 pm

shinatoo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:22 pm While we would lose the tennis courts I like the realignment Brookside BLVD north of Meyer with Brookside BLVD south of Meyer. Much cleaner intersection and allows for center medians. Would also get a nice little park.

There is no Brookside Blvd south of Meyer. It is Brookside Road and it is a residential street. Through traffic is intended for Wornall.

Fixed it.

herrfrank wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 2:46 pm The boulevards are designed to whisk citizens in passenger cars throughout the city, and with some degree of beauty. This was understood by the 1990s redesign at its other terminus at Volker Blvd, where Brookside Blvd gained an alignment to Main Street and the eventual streetcar expansion.

That intersection is one of those things that look good on paper - especially when you remember the previous alignment - but are terrible in reality. Overpaved, confusing/poorly marked lane changes, hugely difficult to cross on foot, and still congested. The design seems to amplify the amount of traffic in the intersection. I'd call this one a mistake.

I, for one, take Meyer specifically because I can hit 40+ with no fear because the lanes are 15'-20' wide.

shinatoo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:33 pm

lock+load wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:27 pm

shinatoo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:22 pm While we would lose the tennis courts I like the realignment Brookside BLVD north of Meyer with Brookside BLVD south of Meyer. Much cleaner intersection and allows for center medians. Would also get a nice little park.

There is no Brookside Blvd south of Meyer. It is Brookside Road and it is a residential street. Through traffic is intended for Wornall.

Fixed it.

Language aside, the neighborhood does not want all of the traffic coming south on Brookside Blvd funneling directly south to Brookside Road.

lock+load wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 10:30 amLanguage aside, the neighborhood does not want all of the traffic coming south on Brookside Blvd funneling directly south to Brookside Road.

This is likely what will happen. Brookside Rd will get more traffic that would normally jog to Wornall and there is currently very little traffic on it and lanes are fairly wide. Will be the new shortcut.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 10:43 am

lock+load wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 10:30 amLanguage aside, the neighborhood does not want all of the traffic coming south on Brookside Blvd funneling directly south to Brookside Road.

This is likely what will happen. Brookside Rd will get more traffic that would normally jog to Wornall and there is currently very little traffic on it and lanes are fairly wide. Will be the new shortcut.

This would create a mess at Gregory and Wornall. There is even less space there for traffic trying to navigate from Brookside Road and continue south on Wornall than at Meyer and Wornall.

SE corner of 63rd and Brookside needs a tiny Tudor building to create an anchored corner. I see that small 'plaza' they are planning, but will probably just look like a sidewalk in front of a sea of parking. Right now it's green space with big trees which is nice.

No more tennis courts?

I'm not willing to die on the hill of realigning Brookside BLVD. I am willing to fight to keep it open.

However, just drove that way. It's nothing to just continue south on Brookside Road right now. If it was going to be a problem it would already be a problem.

shinatoo wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 4:12 pm However, just drove that way. It's nothing to just continue south on Brookside Road right now. If it was going to be a problem it would already be a problem.

Currently, Blvd and Rd do not line up. To keep going south, you’d have to turn left and then immediately turn right across busy Meyer. Almost impossible. Certainly discouraging enough to limit it being done. That will change with new alignment.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 4:41 pm

shinatoo wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 4:12 pm However, just drove that way. It's nothing to just continue south on Brookside Road right now. If it was going to be a problem it would already be a problem.

Currently, Blvd and Rd do not line up. To keep going south, you’d have to turn left and then immediately turn right across busy Meyer. Almost impossible. Certainly discouraging enough to limit it being done. That will change with new alignment.

Hyperboly. No where near impossible to cross over there. Meyer is rarely busy enough make it difficult. The only reason people don't do it now is because they are sheep and think they have to use the main road, Worrnall, or they are following their GPS. I bet it wouldn't change much with the realignment. But again, not worth fighting the pearl clutchers.

My main concern is that they keep traffic speeds down in the name of pedestrian safety. Please don't do anything to make Wornall faster from 63rd to 85th, smoother and safer would be great, but this isn't an interstate, it's a neighborhood. Same goes for Meyer, and 63rd, from Wornall to Swope Park.

IMO, it's harder driving south on Brookside Rd and then trying to turn left onto Gregory - the light on Wornall makes it difficult. The left onto Meyer isn't all that bad IMO.

Does anyone else hate the dedicated right turn lane from southbound Brookside Blvd to westbound 63rd Street?

One way for Brookside Plaza? Seriously?

The whole thing is overkill and creates more issues than it solves. Connecting the trail is a nice idea, but not at the cost of change this requires.

I'd like to see the overgrown "natural" corner at Border Star turned into something productive more than anything.

Why would they put a grass median there? Every time they do that, it just encourages dangerous panhandling.

shinatoo wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:12 pmBut again, not worth fighting the pearl clutchers.

Sorry, I think I’m too young to even know what this means.

beautyfromashes wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 6:16 pm

shinatoo wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:12 pmBut again, not worth fighting the pearl clutchers.

Sorry, I think I’m too young to even know what this means.

Kind of like a NIMBY. Someone that gets upset over the thought of something being slightly different than it is now and unwilling to considering that the diffrence may not be that bad.

Derogatory to very proper, usually southern, women, that would clutch their pearls when they would see a rough looking man walking anywhere near them.

I probably didn't use it in the right context, buy NIMBY didn't seam to fit.

AlbertHammond wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:44 pm Does anyone else hate the dedicated right turn lane from southbound Brookside Blvd to westbound 63rd Street?

One way for Brookside Plaza? Seriously?

Complete waste. Plus that's where I like to park.

There is traffic in Brookside, but it's not that bad. It's part of a city.