Kansas City neighbors close their streets to give families room to play amid COVID-19

Just off Ward Parkway, handmade signs announce roads are closed to through traffic. One sign is painted with children’s hand prints. A purple stuffed dinosaur sits on top of another.

It’s part of Kansas City’s Open Streets KC program, where residents can get a permit to close their block to outside traffic so families have room to spread out and play during the coronavirus pandemic.

Jared Barber says about 20 children under age 10, including his own 5- and 7-year-olds, live on his street, Arno Road.

He applied for a permit, and it was approved the next day.

“We wanted a way to be able to allow the kids to play outside and ride their bikes in the street,” Barber said.

Neighbors even set up a removable pickleball court in the street.

City Council launched the Open Streets KC program on April 23, when playgrounds and basketball courts were closed and parks were getting crowded. The program lasts through the city’s state of emergency, set to expire Aug. 15.

So far, the city’s public works department has issued 48 Neighborhood Open Streets Permits, said spokeswoman Maggie Green.

The department grants permits to one block of a street with low traffic. Residents and delivery vehicles must still have access, and streets can’t close if they’re getting utility work or repairs.

The department also looks at surrounding streets that already have permits, so traffic can still navigate through the neighborhood.

Councilwoman Andrea Bough, 6th District, who co-sponsored the resolution for the permits, said some residents have reported traffic has increased on neighboring streets that aren’t closed.

“Some people are upset that there’s so many in our neighborhood and they’re not allowed to close theirs as well,” Bough said. “Every street can’t close.”

The permits are mostly concentrated in the Brookside and Waldo neighborhoods. Bough, who lives on Barber’s block, said she can name four or five streets with permits in that area.

“I think to some extent, it has been word of mouth and people seeing other people do it,” Bough said.

Officials say they tried to make the process simple. The permit does not require a fee or signatures. The neighbors just have to be notified about it.

“We tried to purposely ease a lot of the requirements, so it was easy for neighborhoods to get this,” Green said.

To give residents more space amid the pandemic, the city also closed some roads in some parks, such as Swope Park and Blue Valley Park. It restricts traffic to residents only on parts of River Front Drive, Kenwood Avenue, Summit Street and Brookside Road. To help pedestrians, the city also added automatic signals to more than 100 intersections so people don’t have to press a button.

The city used barricades for larger road closures, so they aren’t available for one-block permits. Residents must make their own.

The city has partnered with BikeWalkKC to provide cones. Barber first used cones to close his street. But when those were stolen, he used painted wooden pallets.

“As long as they have a permit approved, we are letting them get creative and be flexible with what they’re using to close the street down,” Green said.

The program has also had an unforeseen side effect: It’s brought some neighbors closer.

Barber said foot traffic on his street has increased.

Bough said, “This is really kind of the first time that we’ve interacted with some of the families with younger children.”

Residents can apply for a permit through compasskc.kcmo.org.