Bike Lanes

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GRID
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by GRID »

smh wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 7:31 am
GRID wrote: Wed May 05, 2021 9:58 pm Is that twitter pic the finished product? Just pavement markings?
No, despite our shortcomings we aren't quite that dense. Lol.

Vertical delineators and concrete curbs coming shortly. This project is exciting for a few reasons:

1. It was originally supposed to stop at 31st but has been extended northward to 29th/McGee (which gives the user a pretty comfortable connection over to Grand and onward to the Grand bike lanes into downtown).

2. The section between Linwood and 31st was originally supposed to go up onto a widened sidewalk so as to avoid taking a driving lane from cars. This was more expensive, required the removal of two mature trees and generally complicated the whole affair. Motivated city staff with council backing were able to simply remove one car travel lane in the section to GREATLY simplify the costs and construction. Love this kind of thinking.

3. We are now just a handful of blocks away from a complete buffered or separated bike path running from River Market to Cleaver Blvd. Some exciting network effects about to happen I predict!
I was not complaining, I mean even bike lanes with only pavement markings are better than nothing. The problem is the paint wears off quickly if not maintained, people park in them etc. But well maintained and marked/signed bike lanes with only pavement markings can work quite well if done right, properly maintained and utilized.

The Grand bike lanes were looking pretty rough last time I was in KC for example, but some stretches of Grand itself are in very poor condition so putting bike lanes on a crumbling street wont last long.

It's good to see them at least using delineators. Gillham needed a road diet anyway.
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normalthings
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by normalthings »

Grid I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had painted the lanes and left things be.

Long term, I would like to see Jersey barriers where the bike tracks intersect with high traffic roads. Of course, I think Grand could use a cycle track too
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Re: Bike Lanes

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Hopefully the Manager's comments about using road diets to combat drag racing mean Grand could get a rebuild. Perfect opportunity to implement real cycle track down grand and keep protected parking. That would make grand such a beautiful showcase street in the city.
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Re: Bike Lanes

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normalthings wrote: Thu May 06, 2021 12:14 pm Grid I wouldn’t have been surprised if they had painted the lanes and left things be.

Long term, I would like to see Jersey barriers where the bike tracks intersect with high traffic roads. Of course, I think Grand could use a cycle track too
Grand absolutely needs a "proper" cycle track. It's the main bus and bike corridor connecting all of downtown from the River Market to Union Hill. You should be able to ride in a nice dedicated cycle path from 3rd and Grand to at least 27th and Grand. If a nice one were installed for the entire length, it would probably be heavily used.

And for the love of god, repave it and replace some curbs before doing any real cycle track upgrades lol. One of the main streets in downtown KC looks more like a street you would find in an industrial area. It's beat to hell and deteriorated looking outside of Crown Center and P&L.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by benjaminkelley »

Gillham lanes update.
They completed asphault replacement between Armour and 39th earlier this week and their index marks to paint bike lanes went up yesterday.
Soon!
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by KCPowercat »

What is the master plan for gillham? Seems it could continue north firther past McGee trafficway
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Critical_Mass
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by Critical_Mass »

continuing north on Gillham and when it turns into Oak, eventually connecting with the HOA bridge would be awesome. Of course I'd still want the flat route on McGee Trfy and 27th connecting to Grand protected lanes
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Re: Bike Lanes

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Critical_Mass wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 12:41 pm continuing north on Gillham and when it turns into Oak, eventually connecting with the HOA bridge would be awesome. Of course I'd still want the flat route on McGee Trfy and 27th connecting to Grand protected lanes
NKC has plans to build a cycle track on Burlington and with completion to NE 32nd that would connect to the N. Oak bike path/lane. It's a big missing piece of the bike network.

Once it goes in funding the route by the waterworks connects the Line Creek corridor to downtown
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by Riverite »

It would be amazing to have a continuous path all the way from the end of the line creek trail to the end of the trolley track trail. It would also be amazing if they kept pushing west and east with a trail along the river.
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Re: Bike Lanes

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Critical_Mass wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 12:41 pm continuing north on Gillham and when it turns into Oak, eventually connecting with the HOA bridge would be awesome. Of course I'd still want the flat route on McGee Trfy and 27th connecting to Grand protected lanes
Great news. Would grand / oak / Charlotte-holmes all be kept?
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Re: Bike Lanes

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Riverite wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 1:58 pm It would be amazing to have a continuous path all the way from the end of the line creek trail to the end of the trolley track trail. It would also be amazing if they kept pushing west and east with a trail along the river.
Think bigger.

The 152 trail connected to Line Creek and gets you to Parkville, the 64th St corridor, along 152 NW of I-29 and 169 and 152.

A finished Trolley Trail connection to the Indian Creek Trail would connect into far SW Overland Park

The Blue River trail connected to the stadiums would get you all the way to Lee's Summit.

A downtown connector route is a key piece of a huge bike network that isn't too far away from coming together from decades of work.

Get these three connections built and other projects being worked on will explode the continuous network mileage such as the KCK levy, Little Blue Trace, Blue River and Riverfront Heritage bike routes
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by Riverite »

flyingember wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 2:33 pm
Riverite wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 1:58 pm It would be amazing to have a continuous path all the way from the end of the line creek trail to the end of the trolley track trail. It would also be amazing if they kept pushing west and east with a trail along the river.
Think bigger.

The 152 trail connected to Line Creek and gets you to Parkville, the 64th St corridor, along 152 NW of I-29 and 169 and 152.

A finished Trolley Trail connection to the Indian Creek Trail would connect into far SW Overland Park

The Blue River trail connected to the stadiums would get you all the way to Lee's Summit.

A downtown connector route is a key piece of a huge bike network that isn't too far away from coming together from decades of work.

Get these three connections built and other projects being worked on will explode the continuous network mileage such as the KCK levy, Little Blue Trace, Blue River and Riverfront Heritage bike routes
True which could also feed into the Katy Trail. I feel like overnight that would put KC into one of the top cities for trail riding
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by normalthings »

North corner of 31st & Gilliam was already obliterated. Need jersey barriers at high traffic intersections.
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Re: Bike Lanes

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GRID
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by GRID »

Very impressed with the new Gilliam cycletrack. That was not something I expected in KC. Nice project, perfect street for it and it's long enough to really make it useful.

My only concern would be maintenance. It just seems like things like that age and deteriorate very quickly in KC. I hope the city stays on top of it and keeps it usable.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by kboish »

It is very, very nice. Rode it yesterday.
If only it was one block longer on the south side it would link to cleaver (a crappy e-w bike lane segment), but more importantly you can continue south to a little cut through that allows you to enter the small trail system by Kauffman Foundation that links directly into Brush Creek which links directly into the Trolley Trail. Its easy and comfortable enough to reach those if you know its there, but it would be better to visually connect those trails. BUT, i won't complain because overall it is the best on-street trail in the city.
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Re: Bike Lanes

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Yeah, if you bike regularly and are a local, it's easy to do that connection, but a better marked route would be ideal. They need to somehow connect the Gillham cycletrack to a similar cycletrack on Grand or at least a bike "lane" between the curb and parked cars. The bike lanes they painted on grand are all but worthless now. That would give you a solid north/south axis from Waldo all the way to NKC.

We rode all over the city. Other than Armour, I didn't really see much in the way of bike infrastructure in the center city, but that Gillham corridor (and Armour corridor) is a really good start.

Also we rode the new Rock Island trail from the stadiums to Lee's Summit and back. That is a super nice trail. Wow. Again, they need to fill in the gaps to have it directly connect to the KATY and the central city, but that 14 mile trail stands on its own quite nicely. It's one of the nicest rail to trail sections I have been on anywhere.
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Re: Bike Lanes

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Realy happy that Phase 2 of the Rock Island trail is now open.

Super frustrated that their are ZERO plans to extend ot any further east. They could go rail adjacent all the way to 40 Highway, but they aren't even going to take it to Stadium Drive. A stadium drive trail head is less than ideal because you still have to navigate the Leads area but it would at least cut off having to navigate Raytown Road, which is incredibly dangerous to bike.
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Re: Bike Lanes

Post by beautyfromashes »

Does someone have an updated map for the trail and where the trailhead is located?
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Re: Bike Lanes

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