Lee’s Summit hosts national workshop of ‘complete streets’ experts 

Mayor Bill Baird recently welcomed a team of experts from the National Complete Streets Coalition, based in Washington, DC, as they converged on Lee’s Summit’s City Hall to lead a two-day training workshop.

Lee’s Summit’s award-winning downtown, nationally recognized “walk-friendly and bicycle-friendly” community, and “livable streets” atmosphere served as a fitting backdrop for the first of three Missouri Complete Streets Consortium sessions.

According to Emiko Atherton, director of NCSC, these workshops are designed to identify and overcome barriers to implementing activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations, which make it safe and convenient for people of all abilities to walk, run, bike, skate or use wheelchairs to reach homes, jobs, shops, schools and more.

This first workshop focused on designing communities for active transportation to benefit all sectors of society. Multiple studies have shown a direct correlation between a safe and inviting “built environment,” increased physical activity and improved health of a community’s citizens.

Workshop participants included public health and transportation professionals from Eastern Jackson County, Joplin and Kirkwood. These three Missouri communities had been chosen via a competitive selection process to participate in the consortium. Each of the three communities will host a workshop during 2020, for a total of six days of free technical assistance in support of safer, healthier streets.

Technical assistance is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition Activity and Obesity. This program is designed to support the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ ongoing work through the State Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) program, the Missouri Council for Activity and Nutrition through the University of Missouri Extension, and Missourians for Responsible Transportation.

The Eastern Jackson County team is composed of members of the Healthy Eating/Active Living workgroup of the regional initiative known as “Building a Healthier Jackson County.” This workgroup, organized by the Jackson County Health Department, includes Lee’s Summit traffic engineer, Michael Park, and Livable Streets Advisory Board member Dr. Ed Kraemer. One of the county’s goals is to develop a unified, county-level Complete Streets policy and encourage municipalities to develop and implement policies of their own.

Missouri is the third state to benefit from this program. Through its Complete Streets Consortium Series, the NCSC has previously worked with three communities in each of the states of Tennessee and Colorado to foster statewide collaboration and overcome barriers to safer, more equitable streets. https://smartgrowthamerica.org/program/national-complete-streets-coalition/

Author Ed Kraemer M.D., a Family Physician with Truman Medical Center and Assistant Clinical Professor with the UMKC School of Medicine, serves as a member of the Livable Streets Advisory Board, a mayor-appointed, volunteer board whose goals include working to make our community and our streets more “livable” safe and accessible for all of our citizens. Kraemer also serves as Co-chair of the Health Education Advisory Board for the City of Lee’s Summit.