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Old 02-01-2015, 01:36 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,698,601 times
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These are just some close to KC examples of what can be done to make urban recreation a destination and improve the quality of life for residents of not only the central city, but the entire region. All of these examples are extremely popular in their respective areas. I have used all of these (as well as many others across the country). This is just a very small sample using some smaller cities around KC. You can typically find this same stuff in almost every mid to major sized metro area in the united states. Cities are doing this more and more. From Columbus to Memphis to Portland to Dallas. Cities are investing tons of money into this type of infrastructure and residents are taking advantage of it and wanting more. Why is KC so far from implementing this type of infrastructure?

Little Rock has two pedestrian bridges that complete a 17 mile loop on both side of the river near downtown.




Omaha’s pedestrian only bridge linking over 20 miles of parks and levee trail systems on both side of the river


Tulsa has parks and trials on both sides of their river and several pedestrian only crossings that create an 11 mile dedicated trail system.


Des Moines also have several pedestrian/cycle bridges that cross the river and create a well developed trail system downtown.




Again, this is just what some of the smaller cities offer. Never mind what Minneapolis, Seattle, Boston, Denver, DC etc have to offer.

With all the rivers around KC combined with the existing park land, KC could and should have something that rivals anything out there. Instead, it might have the worst recreational infrastructure of any metro over half million people. Even OKC has come out of nowhere and built a huge river trails system with bridges etc. OKC? They barely have anything to work with, yet they are making it work.

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Old 02-01-2015, 03:25 PM
 
Location: Kansas City, MO
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I understand your point. I'm familiar with Omaha's and Tulsa's systems and more recently became so with Little Rock's, which I really liked. KC does need such a system, but would people use it? From personal observation, it seems like "normal people" have an aversion to parks in central KCMO. Even Loose and Mill Creek parks seem to draw a limited demographic, even though they stay busy.
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Old 02-01-2015, 05:42 PM
 
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not the same, but parkville's trail goes by the river, kind of
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Old 02-01-2015, 10:08 PM
 
Location: Peoria, AZ
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There's also this park:

Berkley Riverfront Park: Port Authority of Kansas City, Missouri | Berkley Riverfront Park

According to Yelp, the biggest complaint about the park is its lack of restrooms.
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Old 02-02-2015, 02:05 AM
 
Location: Kansas City, MO
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^I can understand that. My biggest complaint about Berkeley is its lack of use and lack of nearby development. The latter is changing, so hopefully so will the former.
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Old 02-02-2015, 07:14 AM
 
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that area smells like XXXX if I remember correctly, or did they change it?
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Old 02-02-2015, 08:32 AM
 
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I love the first bridge photo, in Little Rock. Did they just take a "raising-lowering" bridge (I don't know what they're called) and lock it in the raised position for pedestrians only? Because that's brilliant. My only complaint would be that it doesn't appear to have a ramp approach, only stairs. This is tough for skaters and cyclists, and impossible for the handicapped.
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Old 02-02-2015, 11:28 AM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rwiksell View Post
I love the first bridge photo, in Little Rock. Did they just take a "raising-lowering" bridge (I don't know what they're called) and lock it in the raised position for pedestrians only? Because that's brilliant. My only complaint would be that it doesn't appear to have a ramp approach, only stairs. This is tough for skaters and cyclists, and impossible for the handicapped.
Yes, but it has elevators. I think that's the best they could do with the space and budget they have. They have an extensive ramp system for the other river crossing. The bridge is still very popular though, so people work around the access.

That bridge is very similar to the ASB bridge in KC. The problem is the ASB Bridge can not be utilized like this because it's still an active rail crossing. The ASB bridge could however be modified to incorporate a dedicated pedestrian right of way on the bridge. The bridge used to carry a roadway over its top deck. Two lanes passed through the structure and two were on the outside.



It would take some design work to build the trail approaches, but It's totally doable to rebuild a cycle/pedestrian trail across the upper portion of the bridge. It would give people breathtaking views of the river, the other bridges and the downtown skyline.

Memphis is adding pedestrian access to an active railroad bridge for example, so if you really want to make something like this happen, you can. Most of the memphis project was funded by a federal grant. KC has missed out on hundreds of millions in federal money that has gone to other cities for things such as recreation, transit and aviation because the city simply doesn't come up with plans to use it and find local money to help fund projects. For every 5 million dollar grant KC has gotten over the years, cities the size of KC have gotten 100 million to fund light rail projects, bike lane projects, pedestrian bridges, park lids over freeways, airport renovations etc.

Anyway, here is the Memphis bridge:





Now, it might be cheaper to just build a brand new pedestrian brige from the ground up (like what Omaha did). The Missouri river is not a huge crossing. Plus it would make even more sense to build a transit/pedestrian bridge to carry the streetcar to NKC.

There is a new streetcar/pedestrian bridge going up in Portland for example.






But the ASB bridge is an option as well. KC should be looking at all these options. This kind of stuff takes a long time to study, design, fund and build and KC is not really even seriously studying such ideas while most other cities are in various phases on implementation.

Last edited by kcmo; 02-02-2015 at 11:37 AM..
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Old 02-02-2015, 05:33 PM
 
131 posts, read 183,135 times
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The bottom portions of the Central ave and Lewis and Clark Viaduct have both been getting a lot more bike traffic and the latter was recently renovated because of this. But if anything this is a sign that a trail like this is needed in the city.
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Old 02-02-2015, 05:43 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC area
11,108 posts, read 23,698,601 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brandthom View Post
The bottom portions of the Central ave and Lewis and Clark Viaduct have both been getting a lot more bike traffic and the latter was recently renovated because of this. But if anything this is a sign that a trail like this is needed in the city.
That's good to hear. I don't agree that nobody in KC would take advantage of this type of stuff. I think the "stay away from the urban core" mentality of KC is what has caused metro KC it avoid urban parks etc, but I also think that mentality is slowing eroding.

KC just needs some strong leadership to make some of this happen and it needs to happen as a faster pace than typical for KC or it will take decades to build. A river bridge, levee trails, freeway deck park etc can all happen within 5-7 years.
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