North Kansas City wants to add more bike lanes. Residents worry about safety

Plans for a Howell Street bike lane in North Kansas City were rolling along. But now, City Council has temporarily hit the brakes.

Bids for the bike lane are tabled for now as council members work through safety concerns brought forth by citizens and cyclists about the path, which is estimated to cost about $818,000.

The lane’s development has been in the works for a few years now, according to community development director Xue Wood. Now, engineers have drawn the plans for the nearly three-quarters mile long path. Wood was at Tuesday’s City Council meeting seeking members’ approval to receive a construction bid.

Although, staff is open to looking at alternative routes, she said.

As the plan currently stands, the bike lane will begin at East 32rd Avenue and Howell Street. The northernmost portion of the path cuts through Macken Park before moving to the road as the park ends at Clark Ferguson Drive.

The lane then runs the east side of Howell Street until it veers onto Iron at East 25th Avenue before quickly cutting back to Howell Street in front of the North Kansas City Public Library. It continues on to connect to existing bike lane infrastructure on Armour Road.

Residents have concerns

There are multiple problems with this plan, according to residents George Schluter and Kathy West. Both expressed their grievances with the route during the meeting.

Schluter cited tree removal, traffic conflicts with buses and schools, the busyness of intersections, and the project’s high cost as reasons to adjust the plan.

West, a cyclist and member of the city’s newly founded Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, had safety concerns about building a bike lane through the intersection of Clark Ferguson Drive and Howell Street — a place where drivers in the slip lane don’t stop behind the crosswalk due to visibility issues, she said.

Overall, West took issue with the path being in “one of the buzziest residential areas,” making the bike lane “uncomfortable.”

“Do you know what happens when there’s a bike lane and it’s uncomfortable? Nobody rides it,” West said. “We’re going to spend $800,000 on a lane where people are going to be uncomfortable, and they’re not going to ride.”

Schluter and West proposed an alternative route: Take a left from Howell Street onto Clark Ferguson Drive, which is already marked correctly to allow bikes on the road, and connect it through Wheel Park to Macon Street.

Using Macon Street to connect to Armour Road is a good idea, according to West, because it has stop signs at every intersection, so the addition of a bike lane will not change traffic patterns.

West’s advice to the city? Make sure the decision is “deliberate.”

“I suggest before you say, ‘Yes, we’re going to do this,’ you need to walk it. You need to ride it,” West said.

Council members halt bidding

Mayor Jesse Smith said he is also hesitant about the bike lane for many of the same reasons mentioned by Schluter and West.

Smith brought up alternative routes for discussion. He said the lane could follow a “path of desire.” This would bring a dedicated bike lane to a route cyclists already ride, like the one West suggested.

The path could also run down the west side of Howell Street, Smith said. Bikers would cross the street at a crosswalk on the edge of Macken Park. According to Smith, this project would be cheaper because pavement would not need to be torn up.

But North Kansas City High School’s buses line up on the west side of the street, Council Member Lyndsey Magrone pointed out. At the same time, a bike lane on the east side of the street could pose issues with traffic outside the Norclay building as it is used temporarily as an elementary school.

Discussion about future plans for the elementary school would need to occur with the school district as the city looks to build bike lanes, Smith said.

As for the Macon Street route, council members said they were willing to look into it. However, Magrone said it may be best to mark the street with sharrows — a symbol of a bicycle and chevron arrows that alerts drivers to share the road with bikes — and install the designated bike lane on Howell Street.

Macon Street is residential, but the library, splash park, high school and city hall sit on Howell Street. So a bike lane on the latter would be beneficial, according to Magrone.

“One of the purposes of having a really well-connected bike infrastructure is so that you can get to the places that you want to go,” Magrone said.

Although the southern part of the path was heavily debated, council members agreed the northern part through the park was a good idea. Smith said his preference would be to bid the north section and hold off on the south.

Others disagreed. Council members cited increased costs if construction occurs in two phases and the parks board’s preference to have construction occur in one phase.

The main concern, however, was that building only the north section would create a segment not connected to any major bike lane.

“Orphan segments tend to not get adopted by the other sections very often,” Council Member Anthony Saper said.

Due to these concerns, the council is “holding off on bidding,” Smith said, and tasking the Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee with their “very first major assignment.”

“Take this and chew on it, work with Xue on it, and let us know where we land,” Smith said.

Controversy over bike lanes

Smith said in his mayoral campaign that residents expressed very mixed feelings about the city’s recent developments with bike lanes.

Now, he’s trying to juggle those opinions.

“I’m not trying to get rid of bike lanes,” Smith told The Star previously. “I’m also not necessarily trying to shove new ones in unless that’s what residents are looking for.”

Recent controversy over bike infrastructure is not unique to North Kansas City.

Some cyclists in the metro have said they wish that cities would pay more care to the routes they choose for bike lanes and remove debris from them quicker. Some have also reported hazardous biking conditions due to traffic.

Dangerous riding situations can result in tragedy. Just this week, a man died in Overland Park when he rode an e-bike through a red light and collided with a vehicle.

But it’s not only cyclists who have concerns. Some citizens are opposed to bikes on their roads for both safety and community wellbeing reasons.

At a neighborhood meeting in Northeast Kansas City during the fall of 2019, some concerned residents shouted and even stormed out over bike lanes. They talked of unsafe road conditions and bike lanes’ potential economic disadvantage to mom-and-pop shops.

Local businesses on Truman Road have also been hurt by bike lanes. Kansas City city officials failed to follow their own policies on engagement with residents and local business leaders. Citizens were left out of the conversation when it came to the 3 ½ miles long bike lanes, and they paid the price.

Still, other people are optimistic about what bike friendly streets can add to communities. They say bike lanes allow residents — even those who don’t identify as avid cyclists — to go to the grocery store or commute to work in a sustainable and accessible way.