KC eyes turning US 71 into a parkway on the East Side. Here’s what to know | Opinion

Kansas City officials and residents are moving toward a parkway as the preferred redesign for a stretch of US 71 Highway, also known as Bruce R. Watkins Drive, that divides East Side neighborhoods. The project, called Reconnecting the East Side, is still in its vision-refining stage with no final decisions or secured funding.

FULL STORY: Should Kansas City turn US 71 Highway into a parkway? Residents say yes | Opinion

Here are key takeaways:

• The stretch of road up for reconfiguration runs between Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard on the north and East 85th Street on the south end.
• Three options were presented — a freeway, a boulevard or a parkway. A fourth option to restore the road to its original pre-highway design was already eliminated due to potentially astronomical cost.
• Since 2010, crashes in Kansas City have increased 37%, and the 5-mile corridor along 71 Highway sees the highest rate of crashes for pedestrians and cyclists in the entire city.
• The parkway plan would eliminate traffic light crossings at 55th and 59th streets and at Gregory Boulevard by lowering 71 Highway traffic underneath east-west surface streets, keeping pedestrians safer above.
• The plan also aims to address noise and air pollution that have caused disproportionate health problems for the predominantly Black and brown residents living near the roadway.
• The project hinges on courts lifting a federal consent decree that outlined how the highway needed to be built. Officials also have yet to secure millions of dollars in funding for reconstruction.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.