So how does Kansas City feel? (Blue Springs: to live in, restaurants, most dangerous)

[brewcrew1000]

Kansas City might be one of the few cities where you could actually drive on Cruise Control during rush hour on almost all stretches of highway

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by brewcrew1000

Kansas City might be one of the few cities where you could actually drive on Cruise Control during rush hour on almost all stretches of highway

It takes my co-worker an hour to get back to Blue Springs after work everyday (construction has made it a ton worse, but she says it's always been bad). For two dreadful weeks we had to commute up 35 when we were still living in Sotu JoCo w the SO's folks and it was always stop and go traffic both ways.

Traffic is much easier than other places, yes, but there's still plenty of it, don't doubt that.

[kcmo]

I'm not saying driving in places like Chicago is better than KC, but driving in KC is extremely frustrating to me. The traffic congestion in chicago or here in dc is frustrating, but, I think it's less frustrating than having to pass people on the right because people are doing 50mph in the left lane with nobody for miles in front of them, but then I chance running over somebody getting on the highway at 40mph forcing people into the middle lanes etc etc.

I have mentioned this before but I saw more crashes in KC in a week than I do here in 2-3 months and there is about 20 times the traffic here at higher speeds and densities. People here drive 65-75 in 55 mph zones and pretty much don't crash. People in KC drive 55-65 in 65mph zones and crash like their is no tomorrow. BTW, Even a minor crash here can trigger a 1-2 hour delay, so trust me, I know how many crashes happen . In KC I would drive by crashes almost daily.

[TabulaRasa]

The most notable driving issue I've seen is what appears to be a widespread inability to function safely in the presence of any winter precipitation. Which is interesting, if the population of KC is, as some feel, composed primarily of folks just off the farm and backroads of the rural midwest. I grew up rurally, and in my experience, rural folks in the region tend to have loads of experience handling ice and snow on roads that see, overall, very limited snow and ice removal. Drivers in KC don't seem to reflect that degree of experience, however, when the freezing rain and snow hit.

[TabulaRasa]

Originally Posted by aragx6

It takes my co-worker an hour to get back to Blue Springs after work everyday (construction has made it a ton worse, but she says it's always been bad). For two dreadful weeks we had to commute up 35 when we were still living in Sotu JoCo w the SO's folks and it was always stop and go traffic both ways.

Traffic is much easier than other places, yes, but there's still plenty of it, don't doubt that.

Depends on when you do your traveling, too. If I do 470 from Lee's Summit to SKC, or the reverse home, it's either a parking lot or a free and clear dragstrip, depending on what 15-minute window I'm utilizing. I go in slightly early and stay slightly late often enough that I hit the empty times reasonably often, but if I don't, I'm taking backroads all the way. My SO's commute is LS to Olathe, and it totally depends on when he hits it. This contrasts enormously with, say, Chicago's freeways, obviously, where there is no specific rush hour; for the most part, it's just always jammed.

[RjRobb2]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I'm not saying driving in places like Chicago is better than KC, but driving in KC is extremely frustrating to me. The traffic congestion in chicago or here in dc is frustrating, but, I think it's less frustrating than having to pass people on the right because people are doing 50mph in the left lane with nobody for miles in front of them, but then I chance running over somebody getting on the highway at 40mph forcing people into the middle lanes etc etc.

I have mentioned this before but I saw more crashes in KC in a week than I do here in 2-3 months and there is about 20 times the traffic here at higher speeds and densities. People here drive 65-75 in 55 mph zones and pretty much don't crash. People in KC drive 55-65 in 65mph zones and crash like their is no tomorrow. BTW, Even a minor crash here can trigger a 1-2 hour delay, so trust me, I know how many crashes happen . In KC I would drive by crashes almost daily.

That's because studies have shown that slow drivers cause almost all accidents on the highway and one of the biggest problems we have here is people driving under the speed limit in the left lane. I have only heard of one incident where a police officer has given an illegal lane usage ticket when that is the ticket that should be given out most often. A slow driver on the highway is the most dangerous person the road - that's a fact.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by RjRobb2

That's because studies have shown that slow drivers cause almost all accidents on the highway and one of the biggest problems we have here is people driving under the speed limit in the left lane. I have only heard of one incident where a police officer has given an illegal lane usage ticket when that is the ticket that should be given out most often. A slow driver on the highway is the most dangerous person the road - that's a fact.

I'd never actually seen that stat, but it doesn't surprise me in the least and it's certainly been anecdotaly true in my experience.

[SPonteKC]

Originally Posted by kcmo

I have mentioned this before but I saw more crashes in KC in a week than I do here in 2-3 months and there is about 20 times the traffic here at higher speeds and densities. People here drive 65-75 in 55 mph zones and pretty much don't crash. People in KC drive 55-65 in 65mph zones and crash like their is no tomorrow. BTW, Even a minor crash here can trigger a 1-2 hour delay, so trust me, I know how many crashes happen . In KC I would drive by crashes almost daily.

Of course, the actual data says something else entirely:

If you're looking to stay safe, avoid the beltways of the mid-Atlantic—drivers in Washington, D.C., average a car accident every 4.8 years, and drivers in Baltimore average an accident every 5.3 years, the two most frequent accident rates of any cities.

10 Cities With the Best and Worst Drivers - US News and World Report

[GSL-NE]

Wow! I am from Omaha and just spent 9 days in Kansas City visiting some friends of mine who have lived there many years.
I was expecting it to be bigger than Omaha; I guess it was.
I was expecting it to be busier than Omaha; it wasn't.
I was expecting a more vibrant downtown; there wasn't.
I was hoping for more interesting, non-chain restaurants; quite the opposite.
Kansas City felt like it was half the size of Omaha. There were less people driving, less people walking, slower drivers, less activity in general. I for one like this quite a lot, but it was just not at all what I was expecting. I thought maybe it was an odd week or something, but my friends didn't think it was any different than usual when we were out. Came home and looked up the population, to find that Kansas City is about twice the size of Omaha! I could not have been more surprised. KC is beautiful and has a very nice skyline.

[kcmo]

Originally Posted by GSL-NE

Wow! I am from Omaha and just spent 9 days in Kansas City visiting some friends of mine who have lived there many years.
I was expecting it to be bigger than Omaha; I guess it was.
I was expecting it to be busier than Omaha; it wasn't.
I was expecting a more vibrant downtown; there wasn't.
I was hoping for more interesting, non-chain restaurants; quite the opposite.
Kansas City felt like it was half the size of Omaha. There were less people driving, less people walking, slower drivers, less activity in general. I for one like this quite a lot, but it was just not at all what I was expecting. I thought maybe it was an odd week or something, but my friends didn't think it was any different than usual when we were out. Came home and looked up the population, to find that Kansas City is about twice the size of Omaha! I could not have been more surprised. KC is beautiful and has a very nice skyline.

For a smaller city, Omaha is awesome. It's very urban and compact and has a nice linear urban core from the river west right into the suburbs. Omaha is a city that should have light rail IMO.