The Line Creek Loudmouth

Purpose of this blog

The mission of this blog is to inform the residents of the Line Creek Valley and surrounding areas of the intricacies of what's going on at the neighborhood level that impacts their lives.

If you would like the Loudmouth to find an answer to a question about the Line Creek valley, please ask.  Follow me on Twitter @LCLoudmouth or like the Line Creek Loudmouth on Facebook.  As the unofficial Platte County satirist, I am an equal opportunity jester.  If you can't laugh at yourself, you will live a miserable life.  Life's too short to run around offended.

I hope that someday, the Line Creek Loudmouth will become the epicenter of Platte County haughtiness. 

Thank you for reading!

1968 Kansas City Rail to the Airport Study

I hear things are a brewing about rail to the airport again so I thought I would finally find some time to share the original 1968 Kansas City "Concept of a Rapid Transit System" study that started it all.  What's interesting is how the traffic projections along I-29 were rather large for people going to the airport.

What's interesting is they studied three ways to get from downtown to the Airport.  I have always maintained that the only way rail ever goes to the airport is if it also provides a financially viable freight purpose and the study had the same idea I had, to build a line west of I-435 to the west side of the airport (yellow).  In this situation, a Chicago suburb style "Metra" line could run along the existing freight tracks and stop in Riverside, Parkville, and then the airport while also opening the west side of KCI to industrial development which would pay freight service fees to help pay the maintenance costs.  However our grandparents selected line followed the Kansas City to St. Joseph Interurban Railroad corridor which is essentially gone to development now (orange).

The study called out some subway concepts.

The study also planned on using the Hannibal Bridge road deck for busses to get across the Missouri River and also an elevated section to make the climb up to downtown.  The passenger rail would use the existing rail lines.

The study had a "Jetson's" like monorail for the train to use.  Note, the Jetson's was a GenX cartoon but not with the cool drinking, smoking, and gunfire that Looney Toons had with Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny which is why it's not still popular.

The rail line would have terminated just north of what eventually became the north side of Bartle Hall.  The Missouri River and north are to the left and the West Bottoms is to the bottom of the picture.

The study called for a freeway for busses that was elevated downtown.

Study has some old pictures of downtown.

The study had a look at the plan and profile of how to get from the Hannibal Bridge, over 169, then along the Wheeler Airport and Missouri River.  North is to the right, the airport is to the top of the picture, and the Missouri River is on the left.

Next picture is along the river and levee highway north of the airport.  When the other two lanes (southbound) were built for the US 169 freeway, a bridge was built, not earthen fill.  This study proposed earthen fill and the rail being between the highway and the river.  Why didn't they do this or why did they do a bridge?  No idea but just guessing that fill along the Missouri River creates a huge landslide risk because when soil is saturated with water, it loses some of its internal friction and has a higher risk of sliding down.

I found this concept of a transit freeway and future system with renderings interesting.  I'm not sure of the location the rendering without reading the entire chapter.

More renderings showing what the elevated rail would look like.

Station rendering with Transworld Airlines logo in the forefront.

The next part of the study had a lot of the meat and description of the concept.

Some cool pictures of the abandoned Interurban Railroad bed.  If you're interested, I've got some other ones to take a look at later because the Interurban has it's own tag with all my posts about it.

The study then went into the proposed alignment on 1960's aerial.  In this picture, north is to the right.  The orange line on the left starts where MO 9 goes behind the Red X (and you can see part of the old Riverside drive in which used to be a racetrack).  I-635 is the highway going from upper left to lower right with Houston Lake in the lower right hand corner.

Next panel the I-29/635 interchange is in the upper left and north is to the right.  The proposed alignment cut basically through the Sunpointe Village subdivision north of 56th Street and was on the west side of Line Creek in the hills above the Line Creek Trail.  Interesting note NW 64th Street is labeled  Potts Road and AA/Waukomis is labeled Deister Road.  The alignment would be on top of the Line Creek Trail where it was built north of the Line Creek Community Center access point.

The alignment crosses over Milton Road (NW 68th Street) at the Line Creek crossing and the hops on top of the old Interurban Railroad.  It crosses over Drennon Lake which you can read more about here.  Why was NW 68th Street called Milton Road??? Well because it was how you got to Milton.

Alignment continues to follow the Interurban.  On the right of the photo would be the Tiffany Greens area.

Here it cuts through Tiffany Greens.  Northwest Road is the abandoned Old Stagecoach Road.  Markwell Road is NW 108th Street.  I have no idea where that name came from.

Alignment follows the Interurban and where it curves down would be right at the old Harley plant and along North Congress.  It then took a hook to the west and curved to follow US 71 Bypass which is Cookingham Drive.   You can see where 71 Bypass and other old US routes were located in the 1930's here.

In this map, north is on the bottom, west is on the right, and I-29 hadn't been built.  The Red Crown Tavern was still in this aerial and you can look at a better aerial of the Red Crown Tavern here.

It stopped at the not yet built KCI which you can see some grading in the aerial.  In this picture, north is to the bottom and west is to the right.

The air traveler origin and destination study matches what happens now.  Roughly half of people going to KCI come from Kansas and so any rail system to the airport won't serve those customers.

Next they did a huge rendering of commercial and industrial development. I-435 is on the left, MO 152 in lower part,  and 29 goes from top to bottom. 

Lastly this below looks like a master plan with land use.  North is the top and west is the left.  Of interesting note here is an extension of MO 152 west towards MO 45 near Farley.  Why this wasn't built to serve Leavenworth military facilities I'll never understand.  Note the proposed railroad from the BNSF line near Farley up to the north side of the airport where I-435 and I-29 meet south of Platte City.

Download the whole report here.

Download 1968_KansasCity_Light_Rail_Airport_Study-compressed

 

Development at 152 and Platte Purchase

After dropping $36M of public money into a pay to play sports complex it's nice to see some development happening at the Platte Purchase and 152 interchange.  I don't get that way much since the Green Hills Road project has changed my travel patterns but there are some things happening near Costco™.  On the northwest side of the interchange, a new Floor and Decor™ store is underway.  For reference here is the approved development plan location.

The development site looks like it's set up to have a gas station at the corner of the WB 152 off ramp in the lower right part of the map.  The flooring store is along 152 and will face Platte Purchase (purple highlight).  A coffee or small drive through is along the middle entrance off Platte Purchase and two restaurant like pad sites at the SEC of Platte Purchase and Fountain Hills Drive.  It has another large box store (probably grocery size tenant) facing to the north (yellow highlight).  The red lines in the map were from a preliminary submittal showing pedestrian pathways.

This is what it will look like from the south along 152.

This is what it will look like from the front towards Platte Purchase.

On the southeast side of 152 and Platte Purchase, if you've driven by you've seen lots of grading happening.  There is an apartment project being built that will be west of Platte Purchase between the YMCA Challenger Field and Pathfinder Elementary and Barry Middle Schools. The site map on aerial below is oriented with north on the right, Platte Purchase on the bottom, and the road in front of the schools on the left and top.

The plans shown to the City Plan Commission show that the apartments will generally look like this.

The clubhouse right off the entrance from Platte Purchase is supposed to look like this.

It looks like most of the rough grading is done and they have some footings for one of the buildings on the backside started so I wouldn't be surprised if they are done this time next year.  I think these apartments will be a hit.  You've got easy access to two schools, the very underrated Barry Platte Park, the Route 152 Trail with its access to everything and the Line Creek Trail, and the YMCA Challenger Field which I was at with my kids tonight.  That field is always open and we often wind up in a football pick up game with other kids and families.  It's a great park for everyone and we really need to thank Trent Green, Mark Teahen, Fred and Shirley Pryor, and the YMCA who raised a bunch of private money to build a park that all the public can use.

 

Waukomis Drive (soon to be Line Creek Parkway) Improvements Progress

For everyone complaining about the heat, you need to know this is perfect road building weather.  It's also supposed to be hot for a while but not hot enough to not vote next Tuesday so in case you missed my primary post this week, you can catch it here.

What a difference a bidding process and contractor make.   The reconstruction of Waukomis near Line Creek Elementary bid the same month as the North Green Hills Road improvements. What's really cool about this job is that the contractor, Radmacher Brothers, innovated out of necessity.  The design called for some large concrete arches for the two branches of Line Creek.  These concrete arches are usually built off site from far away and then trucked to the job site.  However, it's my understanding that the concrete arch makers were super busy so Radmacher decided to build their own arches on the job site.  If this works for them financially, it's a great way to save money and expedite construction and hopefully takes off in the local market.

They had to pour a flat concrete slab to put the forms together.  I had taken some pictures of the larger forms set up but can't find them but the green metal in the picture below are parts of the forms that they bolt together, place reinforcing steel bars inside of it, then pour concrete around it.

This is a picture of a finished one.  I don't remember the dimensions exactly but this has to be around the seventy feet length.

Now these things have to sit on a foundation and the point load from the edge of the arch has to be distributed over a flat concrete slab.  Concrete doesn't do well when it's stressed with tension (getting pulled apart).  It's great when it's in compression (getting squished).  The way concrete gets its tensile strength is steel reinforcing bars.  Now I'm not 100% sure if the picture below is for the footing for the arches or maybe the reinforcing steel they need for a poured retaining wall but either way here is the web of rebar the contractor had to build in order to make sure the concrete does what it's supposed to do.

So the south two thirds of the project is complete.  They are working on the north third and here is the footing for one side of the arches underway.

Now I need to do a post just about the old Kansas City to St. Joseph Interurban concrete arches that were built in 1910ish but they have the arch exposed and ready to demolish.

They've got most of the dirt in place for the roadway improvements and the storm boxes.  This is looking south towards the entrance to Line Creek Community Center.

The project includes a "oval" roundabout that ties NW 62nd Street (entrance to Clayton Meadows) and the entrance the the Line Creek Community Center and Kansas City Northern Railroad.  I didn't see a powerpoint on the ordinance on the clerk.kcmo.gov website but I did have a copy of the aerial map that was used for the public hearing back in 2016.  Keep in mind this project got a federal grant in 2014 and ten years later it's finally under construction.  The final project probably changed but this gives you an idea of the improvements.  North is to the right

The roundabout requires some retaining wall and I went through the site in the end of June and the blocks had just been delivered.  By the end of July, they had the walls built.  This is looking southeast at the retaining wall along the east side of the roundabout and between NW 62nd Street and the Clay-Platte Montessori School

Now south of the roundabout the project is done.  For those of you from the north who only take the road to get to the Price Rite Market and turn around, following are some pictures of the finished product.  By the way, I you haven't gotten anything at Price Rite, you should.  All the food is awesome.  I'd start with the biscuits and gravy then grab a sandwhich for lunch, then finish it off with one of their take and bake pastas.  Oh, I guess I'm hungry and off topic so back to construction.  If you live north and haven't seen the finished project, it's a great parkway.   The narrow culvert crossing which if you drove off of would result in instant death in front of the school is gone (it was something else biking across it in the morning with school traffic).  It has sidewalk and a trail on the east side so kids can walk to school.  This is looking south at the new crossing.  Line Creek Elementary is on the left.

The project did some stream bank stabilization and so now the baseball fields at Vaydik Park aren't in danger of washing away or anyone getting hurt going over the fence to get a ball.  This is looking west at the bank stabilization from the north entrance to the school.  This had to be done to protect the new arch culvert and the road from falling into the creek in the future.

This is looking north from the school bus entrance towards the community center.  So much nicer than the old death trap culvert.

The school now has a nice ten foot wide sidepath trail for kids to safely get to school and for everyone on the east side of the street to safely get to the Line Creek Trail.  This is looking south from the bus entrance.  The school is on the left.

The project also includes a dedicated cross walk to get to the Vaydik Park soccer and baseball fields and also for anyone in the Englewood Apartments to safely walk to school.  This is looking west from NW 56th Terrace.

This project was funded with a $5M federal grant that some of you back in 2014 were nice enough to send support letters and emails to help get the grant.  The rest of the construction money is coming from Platte County's road sales tax even though Kansas City is managing the project.  If you would like to see the improvements continue south of Englewood all the way to Vivion so people can access the Vivion Road and Interurban Trails, you can easily put your name to the online petition I created to help with a Platte County grant that's recently been submitted.  All you need to do is go here and it would be greatly appreciated.

Also Tuesday is election day and it's a big day to vote to show that you back the blue and as always I'm always more than happy to share my recommendations for Governor, Lt. Governor (Go Holly!) and the rest who I think would do a good job leading the state of Missouri. Now since it's Saturday morning, I'm heading out to get some Price Rite biscuits and gravy.

 

2024 Missouri Republican Primary Endorsements

I start this post with a screenshot from one of the best Missouri politicos on Twitter:  the one and only "Dark Prince of Secrecy" R. Gregg Keller who if you are on it, you have to follow on Twitter.

Fortunately but unfortunately a lot of the people responsible for the past two years are term limited out and are now running for a statewide office to keep spreading their ineptness.  I'm not going to name these people because I know a lot of people will get lost in all the names so I'm going to just tell you who I think you should support in next Tuesday's Republican primary.  You also need to realize a lot of those same people are only running as Republicans because they know that's the only way to win 75% of the elected positions in Missouri.  These are the type of people that if the state was swinging towards the well intentioned and wonderful politics of the People's Republic of Illinois they would be running as Dems.

This is a big law enforcement support election and there are some big choices that need to be made.  You can click on the names to get to the candidates home pages and read about them for yourselves.

Mike Kehoe is THE choice for governor.  Tort reform and legislative leadership is what he will bring to the table.  You would think I would be in one of the other camps but the other two have been and will be ineffective at keeping the state momentum moving forward. 

Holly Rehder is THE choice for Lieutenant Governor.  She's got a great life story and her performance in the State Senate showed that she is more concerned about results and reform and not the grandstanding that's made the last two years ineffective.

Shane Schoeller is THE choice for Secretary of State.  He's been in the state house and currently is in local government as the Greene County Clerk.  He's the type of person we need in the SOS office who's there to take care of business.  Under no circumstances should you vote for a couple of the candidates in this race so keep it safe and vote Shane.

Cody Smith is THE choice for State Treasurer.  

Will Scharf is the THE choice for Attorney General.  There's been too many key mistakes in the office that have been happening lately that need to stop.

There are two state amendments and two Platte County ballot questions. 

Amendment 1 eliminates property taxes on daycare facilities.  I'm indifferent on this.  I'd rather they freeze everyone's property assessments until you sell your house.  

Amendment 4 is a revote of an amendment overwhelmingly passed in 2022 but the state Supreme Court ordered a do over because of the fiscal note language.  It passed once and the voters should pass it again.

Now before I highlight Platte County Questions 1 and 2, you need to know that I work for the County and have been intimately involved in these issues.  I pay the monthly fee to Typepad to host this blog and all my comments are being made as a private citizen.  I've got the disclaimer at the top of the page.  I'm writing this before bed while watching Be Cool Scooby Doo with the kids.  There's a clear separation between work and home.  I do this because I care and because you should be educated if you're going to vote.

Platte County has two law enforcement questions, and you can learn more about them by going to Platte County Detention Center Expansion - Platte County Missouri which I encourage you to do.  The County is growing and unfortunately growth attracts things that have to be dealt with so here we are.

You aren't going to be in town Tuesday?  You can head up to extremely charming Platte City and vote in person as no-excuse absentee voting is happening and also download your own ballot from the Platte County Board of Elections.  Just remember that you need to exit at Route HH just past Route 92 as MoDOT is fixing the bridge over I-29.

While you're there, you should check out the downtown Platte City restaurants and businesses on historic Main Street.  The Downtown Platte City Business Association has been setting up some festivals and free regular concerts.  I encourage you to like their FB page here and clear your calendar for the Hot Summer Night event Saturday August 17.  They're promising a 100 foot plus slip and slide on Main Street and I'm looking forward to seeing that.  

Green Hills Road Construction Progress (Or Lack Thereof)

There is a community meeting this Saturday 6/15 at Northland Baptist Church about the Green Hills Road project. 

If you end up going, you will probably meet a really nice guy name Todd.  Todd is newer to KCMO and inherited this project and doesn't deserve to get publicly chastised.  Also your two Councilmembers inherited it too so while you might have gripes with everything, just keep in mind that by having this meeting and a forum to "take it" these folks are doing what normally isn't done for road projects and you should vent but not at them personally.  It's also a way to learn more about when the dang thing will be done.

Green Hills Road was bid in January of 2023.  The ordinance authorizing the construction didn't get to the City Council until April of 2023.  Because of some politics, it got held up and didn't get approved until the end of May.  The KCMO fiscal year ends April 30 and starts May 1.  Why that odd date?  I am guessing it's because people are paying their city earnings taxes in April and so the City's books are flush with cash in May and that cash is used to run the City for a year.

What happens during that time period is the financial system goes into what City Hall terms "year end rollover."  If contracts aren't in process before April, they won't get done before the end of the month and then the money that is allocated in a budget is "frozen" until it "rolls over."  The roll over process can take 3, 4 months and basically even though a project has money sitting there, it can't be spent because it's in a prior fiscal year. 

It was a huge pain in my rear when I was managing projects there and the way I worked around it is I had an awesome department financial officer.  On May 1, I would get money into the newly funded projects that I knew wouldn't be spent in the first part of the fiscal year.  I would have her transfer the money from the new projects into the project account for the old project and then use that money to execute contracts.  When the project money in the old project "rolled over" I would have her transfer it back to the new project.  It's like moving money from checking to savings or HELOC as you need it to keep things going.  Of course it wasn't the way things were done and we'd get a proverbial snootily worded email but we didn't care because we were focused on progress over process.

Anyways, because of "roll over" the contract for Green Hills didn't get signed for a while and I don't think the contractor started working until September.  We essentially lost 12 weeks of hot, dry summer air, started work in the fall, and watched the road sit there closed off with nothing going on because it the ground was frozen or a muddy mess.  As you are reading this I'm sure your muttering to yourself "that's stupid" because it is.

Last week I needed to get something from CVS so I figured I would walk up there and see how things were going.  First off even with the road closed, walking along it was horrible.  Just remember people did that every day while it was open and why rebuilding it with sidewalks was so needed.  Also, the road was built in the 1940's and through some substantial cracks in the pavement, the roadbed was showing signs of catastrophic slope failure because the sides are steep.  This is looking north as a vehicle approaches at the start of some slope failure.

As I got further down to where the Coves dam is located, they've cleared for roadside grading.  Note in this picture the 2-3" pavement dip that was forming because the slope was starting to slide and how there was a cliff at the edge of the road and any vehicle going off it was going to have horrible results.  That slope failure probably would have gotten worse sooner rather than later and the road would have been closed once it slid.

Below is what a section of the east side of the road looks like.  There's only 4 feet then it's a 10+ foot straight vertical drop off. 

One cool thing about this project is it's only going to be a two lane road with sidewalk on the west and 10 foot wide side path on the east which means the rock outcropping on the east side near Line Creek will remain (I think).

The contractor has started on some of the retaining wall on the west side of the project that will be in phase 2 of the project.  This is looking north near that house with the garage right on the road.

This is looking north right south of the box culvert.  Note how the road is narrow with no recovery shoulder and how the new road won't be that much wider.  From the retaining wall, there will be a five foot sidewalk, a five foot greenspace buffer, and then the curb.  This isn't a massive overbuild like North Brighton became.  If it was, the Waukomis/Green Hills corridor would have been an unaffordable project and like North Brighton, it would have never gotten fully finished.

Here is a shot of the western edge of the Line Creek box culvert crossing.  Again, there is no room for error.  Any veer off the pavement would have resulted in a horrible result.  I don't know what the guardrail would have protected.  Maybe someone on a scooter that hit it?

After a half mile into the project, I finally made it to Phase 1.  I think there are 6 or 7 phases total.  This is standing at Line Creek Drive (the entrance to Wau Lin Cree and the landscaping business) looking north. 

This is midway in the first phase halfway between Barry and Line Creek Drive and looking southeast at the retaining wall on the east side of the project.

One of the biggest challenges with this project is the existing 24" water transmission main which serves the KCI Airport and quite a bit of southern Platte County.  It's being replaced with a new 36" main and so space is limited and because of the importance of this water line, it cannot be shut down during the summer because of the water demand in the area.  Since summer of 2023 was lost working on it, the tie didn't happen during that time period and so it's going to be dicey when they will be able to shut off the main and connect the new one in. Hopefully they can schedule it right where they can do the tie in this summer without shutting off water to KCI.

The new waterline has gravel backfill on top of and you can see it in this shot looking south from the entrance to the self storage facility.  Note the white pipes sticking up.  When they build waterlines, they install them then put vertical PVC pipe every 25 or 50 feet.  Those pipes are set on top of the watermain and then after all the dirt work is done, a surveyor does a GPS shot on the pipe to locate it in 2D and a GPS shot on the elevation of the ground at that spot, pulls the pipe out of the ground, and then measures the distance from where the ground intersected the pipe to the end of the pipe on the top of the waterline.  This survey data is then later plotted into a CAD program and an "as-built" drawing is created and put into KC Water's asset management system.  That way someone who might need to replace or fix that watermain in 50 years knows exactly where it is and all the valves, hydrants, and services are located.

Watermains are pressurized and they can move around after they've been built so in order to prevent that "straddle blocks" are built to hold the watermain in place.  Straddle blocks sounds really elaborate but it's simply some rebar and concrete around the waterline.  The bigger the watermain, the bigger the block.  If you happen to live in Wau Lin Cree or drive down to check things out sometime, you should pull to the end of Line Creek Drive and see the monstrous rebar cages that have been built that will be placed around the 36" main as it gets constructed.

Finally I made it to Barry Road where they've got everything rough graded out to rebuild and add some lanes at the traffic signal.  This is looking south from Barry.

Unfortunately there are a lot of preventable things that should have happened to prevent another road construction dumpster fire that have become a hallmark of improvements in this area.  I don't know anything about schedule when Phase 1 will be done or when the other 5+ phases will start and end.  If you want to find out, attend the meeting Saturday and be nice to Todd.

Another Exciting Barry Road Development Coming

There's a lot of talking when it comes to urban planning.  A lot of talking.....

Kansas City has spent a lot of money on plans and upgrading streets.  Kansas City has spent a lot of money on redevelopment plans and commercial corridors that aren't what they should be.

What Kansas City isn't doing is preventing the another North Oak, Wornall Road, or Blue Ridge on Barry Road.  The latest Barry Road commercial case is a proposed vape shop at the corner of Barry and Green Hills which is going to look like something you'd find on an arterial littered with continuous commercial zoning with a TIF plan slapped on it.

 

Read directly from the attached staff report and make your own conclusions. 

This zoning case is on the consent agenda at the City Plan Commission tomorrow which means it's essentially being rubber stamped.  Here is the agenda in case you have an opinion.

CITY PLAN COMMISSION DOCKET

Tuesday January 23, 2024 at 9:00 am

Published Thursday January 18, 2024 at 10:48 am

How to Participate

1. 1. The hearing will be held virtually via Zoom only. Details can be found at https://kcmgov/cpc

Any person desiring reasonable accommodation to participate in this hearing may contact the 311 Action

1. 2. Center at 311 or 816-513-1313 or for TTY 816-513-1889 or by email at actioncenter@kcmo.org

1. 3. Additional case information is provided by clicking the case no. link
   4. Individuals wishing to testify may testify in writing by emailing [email protected] at least 24 hours prior to the start of the hearing or testify orally either virtually via Zoom or in-person in the Council Those providing oral testimony will be limited to 2 minutes unless speaking for an organization in which case you will be limited to 5 minutes. In either case, you must state your name, address, and organization (if representing one) for the record prior to beginning testimony.

Consent Docket

Items on   the   consent   docket   may   be   acted   upon   with   one   motion   and   vote   unless   an   item   is   removed   from   the   docket.   Such items  will  be  acted  upon  with  a   separate   action   and   vote.   The   City   Plan   Commission’s   vote   on   consent   docket   items   is  final (no further action is required).

C1            Case No CD-CPC-2023-00164 - Vape Time Liquor - A request to approve a project plan in district B3-3 for retail

sales on about 1.5 acres generally located at NW Barry Road and N. Green Hills Road. (Andrew Clarke)

Staff Recommendation: APPROVAL WITH CONDITIONS Applicant: Scott Tanner - BHC RHODES

Lastly, I don't fault the property owner.  It's hard to get people to want to do business in Kansas City.  The processes are way too complex, time consuming, and redundant so the private sector has a hard time getting good deals done.  Maybe no one cares that Barry Road becomes like North Oak and I'm just the old man yelling at clouds but I figured I would at least share for awareness.

Download C1_CD-CPC-2023-00164_VTL

1950 Kansas City Manager Centennial Report, Part 3 (Parks and Recreation)

Tonight, you get a glimpse into Parks and Recreation for its first 100 years.  If you missed Part 1 about the Kansas City Centennial City Manager's Report, you can find it here.  Part 2 dealt with Public Works and tonight you can read about the evolution of Kansas City's Parks, Recreation, and Boulevards Department from a Ron Swanson style approach to parks to how it evolved into the system we have today.

 

1950 Kansas City Manager Centennial Report, Part 2 (Public Works)

Tonight, you get a glimpse into Public Works for its first 100 years.  If you missed Part 1, you can find it here.

 

1950 Kansas City Manager Centennial Report, Part 1

It's been a little quiet lately hasn't it?  All I'm going to say is I wish my mom was still alive.  She wouldn't believe how much her little boy who used to be fascinated with power poles and spent hours building things in the sandbox and in barns would be in the news this past November......

With it getting dark and cold with the drizzly day, I have a little time to post some of the gobs of stuff I've been meaning to share.  Back in 1950 Kansas City prepared a City Manager's Centennial Report.  Rather than digesting it and parsing the interesting parts, I took some screen shots of the report and will just post them for you to read.  Tonight, you can read the cover and preamble with the City Administration section.  They give a glimpse into what Kansas City was like in 1950 and have some neat old pictures.  You'll note I started adding watermarks because I don't mind people taking things to share but I do mind it when there isn't credit given.  It's kind of a respect thing and also a way to thank whoever took the time to archive something.

 

Brush Creek Trail Dedication and Opening Tomorrow Friday 11.3.23

Little humble brag, it's nice to live in a county which has a dedicated parks, road, and law enforcement sales tax to maintain what we have and also to add some new things to serve a growing population.  Tomorrow, Friday November 3, 2023, Platte County is going to dedicate and open the first phase of the Brush Creek Trail.  The trail is located along I-435 and opposite Parma Woods Conservation Area and will eventually be part of a 26 mile loop system that will connect the Line Creek and Route 152 Trails.

There is a small trailhead along NW River Road and the best way to find it is open up a map for the Platte County Regional Sewer District, Brush Creek WWTP (or click here).  The trailhead has about 10 or so parking spots.  If you get there and it's full, just remember to not block any of the sewer WWTP plant access if you have to park somewhere.

The trail follows along NW River Road and crosses Brush Creek before it heads north.

From there it goes north and follows along the west side of Brush Creek.  The first part is pretty wide open as it's on right of way MoDOT bought for an eventual folded diamond interchange with NW River Road (see Parma Woods post above for background)

The layout gives a nice view of the Brush Creek valley hillside bluffs about a quarter mile in.  This is looking northwest at Parma Woods.

The trail weaves in and out of open area and into some forested area which I assume used to be farmed or pastured because the trees are narrow and tall.

There is a stretch where the trail is right along I-435 because Brush Creek is close to the interstate but it's nice and open and you can see the creek and some natural growth forest to the east of the creek.  This is looking north so I-435 is on the left and Brush Creek on the right.

The trail curves around a creek bend and affords some view of Brush Creek.  This is looking south.

The first phase of the trail terminates with a bridge over Brush Creek.  This is looking north towards the Creekside development.

I was reviewing the Parkville zoning minutes and it looks like Park Hill Elementary School number 12 was approved and it will wrap around the school.  I'm not sure what the timing of that construction is nor if the school district will build it as my attention spans stops at the KCMO city limits.

Overall, it was about 1.8 miles one way with only 12-15 feet of elevation gain so it would be a perfect training trail for little kids or anyone who might want to get out and enjoy nature but has limited mobility.

I would encourage you to like and follow the Platte County Parks and Recreation Facebook page for future County updates and you can add tomorrow's event as a reminder here.  Check the new Brush Creek Trail before it gets too cold and tell your friends and while you're out there, Parma Woods.

The 8th Street Tunnel

I've been wanting to do a post forever on the 8th Street Tunnel in Kansas City but just haven't gotten around to it.  The problem with trying to juggle seven kids with a job with a half billion dollar budget and over 750 employees is that it takes away time to keep this website up.  The reason why I haven't trashed it is because I love documenting Kansas City history and making it so others who have the nerdiness of myself can waste time gathering useless information.  I am hopelessly optimistic that some of the Tik-Tok generation might stop watching incredibly stupid videos to learn something.....

Did you know there was a tunnel from the West Bottoms to downtown Kansas City which until the automobile was the main way for people to get from our founding agriculture history to our banking and housing centers downtown?  If you go back and look at old posts about "Kansas City Before Freeways" and "1947 Riverfront Master Plan Wanted Another Freeway" you can see pictures with the tunnel in the posts.  I went ahead and pulled them out of the post and posted them below. I will note that I have started adding a watermark or identifier in the pictures because some buttheads take the material and post it without crediting the source.  I don't mind sharing this material but if I take the time to create content please have the decency to post the source.  Behind every blogger there is someone who's giving up time watching "The X-Files" or Charles Bronson butt-kicking movies to create material.  If you would like to see more, I encourage you to share the page and posts.  It's not for my ego but I might be more inclined to contribute content if people like what I am posting.  I understand now why bloggers fade away because the motivation fades unless people like what is posted.  Anyways I will digress from blogger self-pity to talk about a rather awesome part of history that I have seen. 

I've previously posted pictures which showed the 8th Street Tunnel. In the first picture, one would be over the Missouri River looking southwest towards the West Bottoms.  The tunnel is within the red circle.  This was taken before the Buck O'Neil (Broadway) Bridge was built and people still used the old Hannibal Bridge.

In the picture below, it's really easy to see the trestle leading into the tunnel.  This is looking southeast towards downtown if one was hovering over the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers. This was taken before any freeways or I-35 were built. 

I was fortunate to be able to get into the tunnel as part of the new Buck O'Neil Bridge project because when I-35 was built through the bluff on the west side of downtown, the tunnel was severed and closed.  The team working on the environmental study needed to figure out if the tunnel cap was in the right place or if the proposed new direct connection from I-35 to go north would cut into the tunnel.  I, of course, jumped at the opportunity to get into the tunnel and explore it because I'm a different level of geek....

Maybe someday I will have a follow up posts with some material I have from other sources about the tunnel but essentially there are two tunnels.  The first tunnel was a brick lined tunnel with a steep grade which was built in the 1800's.  At some point, the tunnel was deemed too steep and a second tunnel was excavated and built within the original tunnel in the 1900's. 

If you are downtown and have ever wondered why we have a weird park/pedestrian plaza on 8th Street west of Broadway and a fountain there, it was because that was where the tunnel opened.  This area was repurposed as a non-car plaza thing when the streetcar was removed.  I never understood why that part of downtown was the way it was until I pulled up the 1925 Tuttle Ayers atlas and saw where it came out.  I would show more on that but I can't find the tile of that area online easily from that atlas.  I may have to go visit my friends at McClure Engineering Company who have a couple of original  copies and take a picture from their original atlases if I ever get around to a follow up post.

The picture below if from what I am guessing is a 1944ish aerial picture I found laying around in a file drawer at City Hall.  The trestle to the tunnel is within the red circle. 

I went ahead and zoomed in on the picture above.  The inter-city viaduct (which became I-70) is in purple and Broadway would be where the orange line is.

The tunnel entrance is in a parking garage.  I don't feel bad sharing it because the parking garage was probably built with TIF and us taxpayers subsidized it so we have a moral claim that it's a public asset so I don't have any qualms about posting it.  You can see the brick tunnel lining in amongst the parking garage HVAC.

Entering the tunnel, one can see the top of the original, steeper tunnel.  This is about 200 feet after the entrance.  The floor of this tunnel in the picture is the top of the newer, less steep tunnel.

The brick tunnel liner for the original tunnel is steeper than the top of the new tunnel so vertical clearance gets shorter the further one goes into the tunnel.  It's probably 10 feet at the entrance and then goes to about 5 feet before the new tunnel top ends which the picture below shows.

The brick lining of the original tunnel is still in great shape and shows the workmanship of people in the late 19th century.

When you get to the end of the brick tunnel, there is a ladder which one has to take to get to the lower tunnel.  As a farm kid, I had no problem climbing from the edge of the roof between the tunnels to the ladder to get below due to my years of climbing over and on top of things.  Once I got to the lower tunnel, it was a cesspool of mud created by decades of water infiltration with the fines of the clay at the bottom but you can see the constructed top of the newer tunnel with its power source for the trolley.  Someone did install lights at some point but you can see the brick on the sides from the original tunnel and then the roof built for the newer tunnel.

Here is a zoomed in shot on the roof of the newer tunnel which had some steel beams with some heavy concrete cross beams.  You can see the concrete starting to deteriorate with the deposits creating stalactites.  The electrical source system is still partially in place in this picture.

The picture below is looking west towards the cap of the tunnel which was constructed when I-35 was built on the west side of downtown.  Here you can see the aluminum ladder onc has to climb to get from the upper tunnel to the lower tunnel.  Note the solid concrete cap MoDOT built to block the tunnel off from the interstate.

Here's some calcified remains of the streetcar rails.

I'm not sure exactly what this is in the picture below but I am assuming the brick is the base of the original, steeper tunnel and this shows the excavation to build the newer, less steep tunnel.

This shot looks to me like they drilled steel rebar into the limestone to act as a foundation for the original tunnel to provide a stable footing for the brick to protect the integrity of the excavation. I am guessing that when they built the new tunnel, they just blasted down and left these anchors for the brick as they existed.

Here is what I think might be my best shot showing the new tunnel.  The electrical system for the streetcar is still in place.

In the lower tunnel there was some kind of steel material which I assumed held the rail tracks in place. It was full of eroded clay fines which made a "goupy" surface but seemed to permanently petrify the streetcar tracts and ties.

I am still amazed wood is able to survive 80+ years of sitting in a contained and subterranean environment.  This picture also shows a concrete footing built for the lower tunnel.

One thing that struck me from the concrete in the lower tunnel is the pattern on the concrete.  It didn't look smooth like plywood was used to form the concrete walls.  It looked like the tunnel contractors used 1x4s to form the concrete walls.  This would have taken a ton of time vs using 4x8 plywood or metal forms that they use today.

At some point, I am guessing about Washington Street, the lower tunnel ends and a pile of fill was thrown in when they capped it.  At this point, I didn't feel like climbing above the mound of dirt to find the end.  The air quality was trash and my boots were muddy enough,  I didn't want to ruin a pair of pants in addition to boots so I didn't bother climbing any further.

It's pretty amazing the destructive and also how good the preservative power of water is.  The next picture shows the top of the new tunnel and how the steel attachment is still kind of there after 80+ years.

As 0ur group left, I got some more pictures.  Where the original tunnel ended and the lower tunnel had enough vertical clearance, the builders started building cross beams for the room.  I wonder why they left a floor other than they used it for maintenance staff to service the electrical for the streetcar.  The picture below is from where one can access the tunnels and shows the beams built for the roof of the newer, less steep tunnel.

I find the workmanship of our ancestors amazing.  There were a couple of locations where the brickwork was just amazing.  I am guessing this was a spot where maintenance staff could wait if a train was coming. 

Lastly, I took a picture at the entrance showing the walkway DST or whatever they are called now built to get to the tunnel from a parking garage which shows the magnificence of this tunnel and Kansas City's history.

So folks I hope you appreciate posts like this.  I have so many things going on but I find this stuff amazingly interesting and I thank God for a farm kid from central Illinois gets to do what I do and see things like this.  I hope to find more time to do more regular posting because Kansas City is so awesome and I want to make sure future generations have an appreciation for it.  Lastly I can't express to you all how much I love this city and it's history.  This is an amazing place to live and raise a family and it truly is the world's largest small town.

2022 November Election

Well between the new job, normal family life, and a major home improvement odyssey, I had to reset my Typepad password because it's been so long since I've logged on.  I hope 2022 has been good to you.  Tomorrow is election day and you can find you Platte County ballot here and your Clay County ballot here.

I only have three things I am willing to comment on.  The first one is for those of you in Clay County.  I won't articulate my reasons because I made a new year's resolution to reduce induced pearl clutching but I need you to vote for my friend and anti-special interest aficionado Jason Withington for Clay County Commissioner. 

If you want nice things like basic infrastructure and improved parks and trails, there will not be anyone more vocal and committed to actually doing something about them.  The state's sixth largest county with a major manufacturing plant should have nicer things than it does. 

I first met Jason over a decade ago because he wanted to talk about how to get better sidewalks to schools in the older part of the County and understand how things work.  It's pretty easy to see who Jason is and he's not an ideologue or partisan hack or career politician and is the type of voice you need on your County Commission. 

Second issue I want you to vote Yes on Platte County Question 1 which on the back page of the Platte County ballot. 

It is a renewal of the County's road sales tax.  Originally passed in 2003 and renewed in 2013 as a 3/8th cent sales tax, it is back on the ballot as a 1/4 cent sales tax renewal.  Because of this tax, the following projects have been completed within the Kansas City portion of the County in the 25 years it's taken to improve two miles of North Brighton in a county with no road sales tax:

I-29 and Barry Road interchange widening, North Congress south of Barry Road serving Park Hill High School and Congress Middle School,North Congress from 152 to Old Tiffany Springs Road including the portion of Old Tiffany Springs Road in front of Tiffany Hills Park, North Green Hills Road from Barry Road to 152, Barry Road from Weatherby Lake to the Grass Pad serving Hawthorn Elementary, NW 72nd Street between I-29 and Overland Drive serving Chinn Elementary, Northwood Road between NW 52nd Street and I-29 serving Southeast Elementary and Walden Middle, North Green Hills Road from NW Platte Brooke Drive to NW 78th Street serving the Russell Jones Center, and as soon as it gets approval from FHWA Waukomis in front of Line Creek Elementary from Englewood up to the north end of Vaydik Park by the Kansas City Northern Railroad will be under construction.

I will admit my attention span isn't what it used to be and I don't have a good list of roads and bridges outside of KCMO but I do know that over 30 county bridges/box culverts, Jones-Meyer Road, Route 45 from I-435 to Union Chapel, the Humphrey's Road Bridge, and numerous other projects in smaller cities have been completed and benefited from the sales tax.

Over 20 years, that's a pretty impressive list of simple upgrades from hilly narrow Ozarkian roads to urban streets with sidewalks and street lights.  Here's an articles and the renewal campaign website.  Kansas City passed a resolution and has identified that it would want the county to finish improving Waukomis Drive south of NW 68th Street and NW 56th Street from the schools along Northwood over towards I-29:

Section 2. That the City Council expresses its support for utilizing any renewal approved by voters and for successful partnership agreements to improve N.W. 56th Street from I-29 to Northwood Road, Waukomis Drive from I-29 to Englewood Road and from N.W. 62nd Street to N.W. 68th Street, North Green Hills Road from Old Tiffany Springs Road to N.W. 108th Street, North Coventry from N.W. 68th Street to N.W. 76th Street, and Platte Purchase Drive from N.W. 96th Street to N.W. 104th Street which are all currently unimproved roads which do not meet urban and complete streets standards.

Lastly, I hate everything about weed.  The smell, the carbon footprint, the water usage to grow it, the commercial/corporate farming of it, what legalization has done to Colorado and Denver, etc and legalization via Constitutional Amendment is a ridiculous way to legislate so I'm asking you to Vote no on Missouri Amendment 3. 

Also, read the header at the top of the page before you click out, enjoy your flyer free mailbox until March of 2023, and realize that Billy Idol released a new CD in 2014 and it rocks...

Song credit to Billy Idol.

 

Green Hills Road Almost Ready to Open

Green Hills Road is about done and I took some liberty and drove through the job tonight since I've got a pass.  The project is a classic partnership project.  KCMO put in roughly $1M of bond and sales taxes for the design and property acquisition, Platte County obtained a $2M federal grant and used that plus something like $2.3M of its 3/8th cent road and bridge sales tax to pay for the construction and now we've got a complete street where people don't have to walk or bike in the road with cars driving by at 40+mph in ten foot lanes.

This is looking south from NW 78th Street where the project started.

My 11 year old commented that it was really nice and had a big wide sidewalk which is on the east side of the street and is ten feet wide for bikes and pedestrians.  This is looking south towards the entrance to Silverbrooke and the Russell Jones Education Center.

The next shot is looking north from NW 76th Street and the school entrance.

The next picture is looking south from the eastern entrance to Lake Waukomis towards Platte Brooke Drive.  The project included an extension of the median built in the previous phase.  The purpose of this was to provide some traffic calming and beautification.  Back in 2005 KCMO did a study and the 100+ people that showed up to the public meetings were pretty adamant that they liked the rural and treed feel of the existing road even though it had a high number of accidents and fatalities.  People also came unglued at the idea of a four lane road so the hybrid two and three lane concept was chosen.  I hope those that were around then realized their input mattered.  

The southern portion of the project included milling and overlaying the existing pavement.  The first time we drove through here with the kids after the contractor milled off the top 2" of the road, my 18yo commented that "this road is so horrible, it's like Lightning McQueen built it."

The project included putting sod down and in case you ever wondered how a landscaper puts down sod, it comes in a roll and they use a little skid loader contraption to unroll it.  For those of you not familiar with the area, the nice wall was built by Jon and Dave Barth as part of the Silverbrooke subdivision and the design of the street accommodated it and provides some aesthetic enhancement to the corridor.

Sod also has to be watered and it's not that complicated to do.  All it takes is a big tank, a super soaker on a truck, and some dudes.

The next phase hasn't been bid so enjoy the summer of Green Hills before that next phase starts.  You can also read about the history of the corridor and area from an old post here.  It's also the northern entrance into Miltonwood, a once charming roaring 20's hamlet.

You're Going to Pay More in Taxes for Park Hill's "No-Tax Increase" Bond Promise

Since the Park Hill School District refuses to use the very expensive and limited viewership technology called "YouTube" to broadcast school board meetings, I'm left to interpret school board agendas. 

The screenshot below is from the 2017-18 Park Hill School District budget.  In the 2017/18 budget process, the property tax operating mill levy was $4.9183 which was assumed to be the rate ceiling established by the State Auditor's Office (SAO) per Missouri's Hancock Amendment.  There wasn't a voluntary rollback per this budget so you paid more in taxes because assessed values in Platte County increased by 7%. 

One thing to point out is that the debt levy to repay the "no-tax increase" bonds was set and remained at $0.6107 from FY17 to FY18. 

That means your taxes went up because assessed value within the school district went up by 7% that year and people were taxed at the same rate of $0.6107 which means you paid more than the intent of the Hancock  Amendment's goal to limit tax revenue increases to governing bodies greater than 1.5%.

Well guess what happened?  The 2017-2018 budget was adopted before the SAO finished the math and consequently the operating levy was officially lowered to $4.7928 because that was the ceiling established by the SAO.  This action occurred during the August 2017 board meetings.  This kept the operating levy at a rate consistent with the intent of the Hancock Amendment.

The debt levy remained unchanged at $0.6107 which means everyone who had an increase in their assessed value had no rollback and the district received 7% more in tax revenue for debt service because of increased valuations.  People technically had their taxes go up because of increased valuations to pay for the "no-tax increase" bonds.

Now take a look at the current mill rates which were discussed at the 8/8/19 meeting.  You can read for yourself but again property assessments on existing property went up $73.6M or 7.4%

Now did you read the last paragraph above?  I'll repeat it for you:

For 2019, the State Auditor has set the debt service levy ceiling to $0.8298. The district is proposing to voluntarily roll this debt service levy back to $0.7128 to accelerate the repayment of principal on existing debt. This will allow the district to begin building capacity for future capital improvements/repairs to existing facilities and to construct facilities to accommodate future enrollment growth.

Did you pick up on the fact that the debt service levy increased from $0.6107 in FY18 to $0.7128 when property assessments in Platte County have increased over 7% the past two years.  I may have went to Illinois public schools, but that appears that the Park Hill School District has increased the debt service levy (your taxes) by 16+%. Don't believe me?  Well take a look at the district's own presentation and note how they try to convince you with the double asterisks that you're getting a lower debt levy rate because it's lower than what the Hancock Amendment will allow.

Here is the form that Bart Klein is going to sign increasing your taxes for "no-tax increase" bond payments.

Now since again the School District refuses to broadcast meetings, I can't go back and watch the discussion.  I'm left with a screen shot from a presentation for the 8/8/19 meeting where the table shows "Fund 3 - Debt Service Levy" (ie what is paying for the bonds) going from $0.6107 to $0.7128.  Folks, that's a tax increase from 2018 to 2019. 

Now we also have another problem in the fact that the Park Hill School District didn't budget anything for the increased staffing at three new schools and now is running an annual operating deficit which will total over $18 MILLION over the next four years.  Where did I get that number?  Screenshot from a presentation at the 5/23/19 board meeting.  Too bad I can't go back and watch a video to see the discussion and maybe get a better understanding of why this is going on......

This is right after the school board approved using operating fund reserves to pay the capital cost of the new high school.  In case you missed that post, it's here and you just need to scroll down towards the end because it included election stuff.  Did anybody know about this upcoming structural deficit and if so, why didn't anyone ask if spending operating reserves was wise given structural deficits.  Again, since the school district refuses to get with the 21st century and broadcast their meetings, no one will really know. 

One thing I want to point out is that we have someone else starting to watch the school district.  I don't know who is doing this but I understand the anonymity.  I've heard quite a few stories of retaliatory behavior from anyone who doesn't toe the line with the official spin.  You need to check out the Park Hill Transparency Project and follow them on FB and Twitter.

Now those of you sitting out there screaming "yeah but that's not the real story and you're spreading disinformation" I have a simple way to straighten me out and shut me up.  Ask your school board and administration why they refuse to tape and broadcast meetings.  I know there will be quite a bit of consternation with this post but in my quest for transparency from this governmental agency, I feel strongly that meetings discussing our children's education and how our money is stewarded should be broadcast for everyone to see. 

Meanwhile, I just want to point out that tomorrow, the Park Hill School Board is going to vote to raise your taxes to pay for debt/bonds.  The official tax rate hearing notice is here and if you want to ask the Park Hill School Board why they're raising taxes, you should show up tomorrow at 6:55, sign your comment card, and state your objection.  If you get there after 7, they won't take your public comment card and you won't have the ability to address the board.

Basically the property tax mill levy you paid in 2018 was $5.3955.  The property tax mill levy you will pay in 2019 even with the State Auditor's Office required rollback is the same at $5.3955.  Your taxes are going up to cover debt service.  It's in the notice.

I don't know if you've ever heard of "YouTube" but it's this really cool website where anyone with a cell phone camera can record something and post it for people to watch and it's FREE.  Anyways, after writing all of this about how my taxes are going up to cover payments on a "no-tax increase" bond has gotten a song stuck in my head which I'll share with you to enjoy.

Clip credit to The Rollins Band.

Big Shoal Creek Greenway Trail Ribbon Cutting Friday 10/29/21

Come celebrate the newest jewel in the KCMO trail system this Friday 10/29/21 at 2PM.  Event details here.

This nearly two mile trail activates the Big Shoal Greenway and is a collaborative effort from multiple KCMO departments and connects multiple neighborhoods in Gladstone and KCMO between Chouteau and Brighton.  Long story short, the water department installed a waterline along the greenway, the public works department secured $1.35M in federal bike/ped funds for a trail connecting Brighton and Chouteau, and the parks department used those funds to construct the trail along the tree cleared waterline corridor.  Truly a successful project for everyone and now you get to enjoy it.  The best place to access it is on North Indiana right around NE 55th Street where there is a new graded play field and trailhead parking lot. 

Map of the project below with the trail shown in blue.  It goes under both Indiana and Brighton in case you are wondering why there are curvy squiggles on the map.

I do have to warn you that there is a long and rather steep hill along Chouteau but that is what happens when building a trail in a fully developed area with floodplain and topographic challenges.  This is looking northeast from where it starts near Chouteau and you can see the cut that was needed to get the trail at an acceptable slope.  There is a gap in the trail south of here down towards NE 53rd Street as the developer for the old mall is supposed to construct the gap.

This is a 170 feet plus (I think, I don't remember as the plans were done 3 years ago) bridge spanning the floodplain.

It provides the newest IG or FB picture background in the area.  This is looking west back towards Chouteau.  I love seeing all of your trail bridge pictures.

This connection opens up the greenway.   Who says engineers can't design things that aren't straight.

The project has a low water crossing because the floodplain is large through here.  These are always great places for kids to play with sticks and rocks and the creek.  This is looking west back towards Chouteau.

There is a connection and crosswalk on North Indiana but the trail also has the option of going under.

You can enjoy some free artwork by local students.  I wish someone would paint a picture of B.A. Baracus....

This is a new parking lot/trailhead on the east side of Indiana.  There was a maybe 120' x 80' field graded out where there was unmanaged slope which could be used for practices or pickup soocer/frisbee/football and the baseball diamond fences were replaced.

This is looking west back at Indiana around a bend on the trail.  The trees you see were planted by the waterline project for mitigation of clearing and in anticipation of the the trail and have a few years of growth under their belt.

The picture below shows where the trail is right on top of the waterline clearing.  Note how the waterline construction had as minimal intrusion as possible and how the clearing opened up a perfect corridor for the trail.

 

This leads to another open area underneath some old growth trees.  When I was going through here, there was a young family on a blanket just enjoying being outside.

The trail then goes into an area which has never been maintained and has an amazing tree canopy with some old oaks and sycamores.

There is a stretch where the trail had to be straight because of property lines and to be away from the creek but the engineer was able to sneak a little curvature into the design.

The trail does cross Jackson at the street level because the Jackson bridge is short and there isn't clearance to go underneath.  This is another section which isn't flat but just so you know, when I was in a wheelchair post Achilles tendon surgery this summer, I did roll through the trail just to see how it felt from an ADA perspective.

The area between Jackson and Cypress was platted in the 1950's and there was a lake mentioned on the plat with Cypress as the dam.  I am assuming at some point it breached and someone dropped a metal culvert in place, paved over it, and called it good.  It's the only explanation for why there's a bridge at Jackson and downstream 500 feet at Cypress there's a metal pipe. It does get a little tight through here and sometimes one just has to roll with the constraints in the design like snaking between a property corner and a sewer manhole because the creek is just ten feet to the left of the trail.

I have a ton of pictures but I'm going to hop over to just east of Cypress where we have a low water box culvert crossing on the trail.  This is also where the trail goes onto a 40 (+/-?) park tract that has some amazing tree specimens that's never really been accessible to the public.

The trail is built on top of the waterline clearing and in a few years, the tree canopy will fill in and fully shade the trail.  This is looking east towards Brighton.

This is looking east towards Cypress.

The trail connects to the west side of Brighton where it uses the sidewalk on the bridge to cross over to the north and then loop around and underneath the trail.

I encourage you to come out Friday.  There are plenty of places and things money can be spent on so if you enjoy these trails, show up and thank your elected officials who provide the support for funding to implement them.  If you can't make it on Friday, check it out this weekend or the next as the trees start to show their colors.  Repeating the link to the event details again so you can put it on your calendar and enjoy.

Platte Purchase and Route 152 Interchange Status 10/26/21

Well it's been great construction season this fall with no rain and a long string of sunny days.  I took some pictures of the new diverging diamond interchange under construction at Platte Purchase and Route 152.  This project is being done in anticipation of the new Central Bank Sporting Complex, planned new Platte County R-3 school facilities, and commercial development.  The project will be under construction until the middle of next year but was closed to allow work to accelerate and have the off-ramps open before Thanksgiving.

This picture was taken from the the north side of the interchange and looking south from Platte Purchase at freshly poured and sawed concrete.

I thought the paving machine left an artsy path.  This shows the path for someone going south on Platte Purchase and how they will cross over to the "wrong side" of the road.

The gravel base has all been put in place and compacted.  This is looking southwest at the WB on-ramp which pavement is already completed.  The pipes sticking out of the ground are conduits for the traffic signals which take a while to get on the job site because there's a 4-6 month lead time on ordering and someone fabricating the metal poles.

This is looking east towards the WB off-ramp (ramp for those of you coming from Liberty or 169 to get to that large wholesale club) and the off-ramp pavement work is all done.  The wood stakes you see were placed by a surveyor to help set up a string line which the concrete paver uses to guide the curvature and elevation of the new pavement.

Since this is one of those diverging diamond (DDI) interchanges, this is looking south at the east side of the bridge approach where southbound traffic will be driving on the "wrong" side of the road.  I'll point out that the concrete contractor left the gap in the middle because they have to install steel bars along the concrete joint lines and by doing it this way, they can come in, drill and grout the steel bars in, then use the new pavement as the edge forms.  See the green bars sticking out?  Those are rust inhibiting material covering metal reinforcing bars.

This below is a concrete drill.  I haven't seen one of these in action but the hydraulic drill would drill two bar holes in what seemed like just under a minute.

I also took a shot of the concrete paver.  Basically it's an expensive "Play-Doh" machine that takes the concrete, shakes it up to get the air out of the concrete, and smashes it flat.

I noticed some pink markings on the bridge showing the location of the new concrete barriers that will keep cars on the right side of the road.  See all of the green rebar?  That all goes into making a concrete median barrier.  Ironworkers will grout the rebar into the existing bridge deck and then a concrete machine with a steel template will take the concrete from a concrete truck and slither it into the form.  Concrete is simply heavier "Play Doh" and the physics is the same.

Now I have made it to the south side of the bridge and this is looking south at the southern cross over.

This is looking west at the eastbound off-ramp which has all of the concrete in place.

This is looking east at the eastbound on-ramp.  Again all of the ramp pavement is done.

The project also includes an underpass for the Route 152 Trail.  One of the problems with DDI interchanges is the number of bike/ped crossing points and vehicular conflicts.  They are set up for free-yielding traffic flow which is why they work so well where people are trying to get off and on a freeway.  They are set up for pedestrians continuing on an arterial street.  However, I can't think of DDI's that have been built where bike/ped users are crossing the arterial which is the case here so while the road is all torn up, it made sense to put in an underpass to eliminate any possibility of vehicular accidents on the free yielding merges and also not cause substantial delay in someone pushing a walk button to cross and causing all the cars to have to wait at the stoplights.  The grade of the trail and the interchange being much higher than the surrounding ground worked well in this case.

I also saw an operator using a remote controlled dirt compactor.  A big problem in civil construction is settlement and it's always hard to get compaction of the soil placed to where it doesn't settle the pavement.  This is common right before bridges or over cross road pipes where the dirt isn't compacted to the right density and dips in the road develop.  Using a remote controlled compactor eliminates the chance of the operator getting squeezed and hurt or killed if the compactor happened to trap him/her against something immovable like a concrete box culvert.

This is a joint partnership project between Kansas City and MoDOT and I know it's hard to see progress from Route 152 or Platte Purchase so I just wanted to share what the project is looking like.  It will be nice when it's done.

 

Antioch Bible Baptist Free Clothing Give Away

Happy summer.  2021 has been a busy year and frankly I've been busy enjoying life and working on a major home improvement project.  For those of you following along, I'm doing great recovering from my Achilles tear and surgery and been back on the bike this week trying to rebuild strength in addition to climbing up and down ladders and attic rafters. 

It's a little last minute notice but if you have any clothing you've been wanting to purge, you can help others by dropping it off the next day or two at Antioch Bible Baptist in Gladstone for the annual free clothing give away.  This is a completely free event and if you don't have clothes, there is a monetary donation for backpacks using the link here.

First Look at the New Buck O'Neil Bridge

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission awarded the contract for the new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge to the winning design-build proposer on Tuesday.  I couldn't get my hands on the material presented at the commission meeting because I didn't fill out a Sunshine Law request on Tuesday like I should have but I did download the commission meeting video and spliced the video which is posted below. 

Using the design-build process, the project is within the $220M construction budget.  The renderings shown below are screenshots from the video so they aren't the greatest but I pulled them out to try and give you some orientation as you watch the video.  In all the pictures, the red arrow points to the north.  I didn't want to screen out the renderings so I used the chicken scratch yellow arrows to show the direct I-35 connections and orange arrows to show the downtown Broadway access.  The first one is high above from the Historic West Bottoms looking to the northeast.

The next one is a little more close up looking northeast showing the direct connects. 

This one is right above the buildings along 5th street looking north at the new bridges and how the direct connections split.

The one below is over the Missouri River looking north.  There is a sidewalk trail on the east side of the bridge.

The next one is looking northeast along Beardsley Road just south of 4th Street but north of I-70.

The next one is looking west from 4th and Broadway/Woodsweather.  The old bridge would be right over the top of where the picture would be taken.

Lastly, this is looking northwest at the downtown airport from high above I-70 downtown.

You can watch the video and pause it and rewind it to see it all.  It's a long clip.  The first gentleman talking is Patrick McKenna who is the MoDOT Director and the second is Ed Hassinger who is the Chief Engineer.  I included them in the video because they give some background but also give thanks to their dedicated staff who has been working some long hours the past two months reviewing the desi9n-build proposals and going through all the government red tape to get to this point. 

I know that the project director Mary Miller has been working long days the past two weeks straight getting this very complex project to this point.  I can't say how proud I am of all the folks that have worked on this project.  This is a big deal for the region and will be a lasting legacy for everyone involved in the project.  Enjoy the video but keep in mind the final details will still need to be worked out this year during the formal design process and things may end up being slightly different.

 

 

Platte County Specific Ballot Questions 8/4/2020

I've been having so much fun this summer that I forgot my blog password!  We've been taking advantage of cheap travel rates this summer because people are too scared or unable to get out of the house.  I did need to log in tonight and make sure you are aware of two really big questions on the ballot next Tuesday 8/4/2020.  After initially posting, I've been given some constructive feedback that I just need to tell you to vote "YES" on the two Platte County questions.  However, if you want the reasoning, continue on.

Before we get into the questions, I want to set the tone.  The week after the April 2019 election where the jail tax was defeated, a few of us were sitting around going "holy crap, we're headed into a financial train wreck in 2021." 

Why were some of us deeply concerned?  Somehow county politics was devolving into some tribalism and it all revolved around the 1/2 cent parks and storm water sales tax.  One side of the electorate just couldn't believe the County is collecting and spending $9M a year on parks and storm water when the Sheriff's Office wasn't fully funded and was losing deputies hand over fist because the County salary structure wasn't anywhere close to being competitive with other governments.  The other side of the electorate saw a serious effort to eliminate the parks and storm water sales tax and wasn't going to budge from renewing it at the 1/2 cent.

Both sides in my observation cared deeply about the County but were aligning in a very adversarial position and it wasn't going to be good for anyone because the parks and storm water sales tax expires in December of 2020.  I was not horrified but we were looking at a horrible situation in January 2021 where we would have no parks and storm water funding to build and maintain what we want and no resolution to the law enforcement funding.  Both sides would have nothing and the County would not be better for it.

So some of us called our Commissioners the same week and basically said there needed to be a process to vet out the options with people who are not tied to County staff, the Commission, or any elected office.  It needed to be an independent review by people with different backgrounds and not biased for or against either position.  The committee members were selected by the Commission and if you read the committee news release, you can see the varied backgrounds of everyone.   I was on the committee. 

You might think I selfishly wanted this so I could get control over the discussion.  You would be right in the fact that I selfishly wanted on the committee because this is such a crucial decision point and I'm not planning on moving anytime soon.  I wanted to make sure all sides were heard out and meshed together to understand each other's viewpoint so a long term solution could be worked on.  I feel that spending $9M a year on parks and storm water when the sheriff's office can't fund salaries is not good government.  I also am a proponent of parks and trails and while I'd love trails everywhere and a playground in every neighborhood, we shouldn't be building things we can't take care of.  However, there does need to be some capital to maintain what we have and to build things as our population grows.  My selfish agenda was to come up with something blended that worked for both sides and didn't over fund so that someone would go out and build a bunch of public buildings that cost so much to maintain. 

I could go into more detail on everyone on the committee but the news release does a good job.  Everyone brought something to the committee from their perspective and biases that was heard out and I feel reflected the both sides of the debate and limited government conservatism.  We heard budget and operation presentations from the sheriff's office, prosecutor's office, parks and recreation department, and county auditor. 

In summary, after six months, the committee was 100% unanimous with a recommendation that the existing 1/2 cent tax structure be put to the voters as two separate questions.  While it appears that the sales tax was cut in half to appease both sides, this was based on some superb revenue and expense projections done by two folks which looked at the next ten years.  I can't give enough thanks or kudos to Gordon Cook of Cook Consulting Group who took time from his business to interview and discuss details with department heads and the county auditor, Kevin Robinson, who also did a lot of work reviewing Gordon's data.

You can read the entire 21 page report here.  I am going to show you the working spreadsheet created by Gordon that the committee used to determine what level the tax structure should be set up.  Now this is a bunch of CPA type detail that I would expect very few people to understand.  I just want to illustrate that the committee was using actual historical expense data with expected expenses on an annual basis to 2030.  It is also important to keep in mind the committee and Commission wanted to make sure there were emergency reserves.  As we saw with the federal radio mandate and with the covid shutdowns, it's responsible to plan for unexpected events.  These spreadsheets were set up to do what if situations and there was some robust debate between committee members.  This wasn't a one or two person controlled committee with some dominating egos.  Again, the Commissioners need to be commended for their choices.

Here is the screenshot from the law enforcement side of the analysis.  Under the assumptions from historical expenses and projected revenue and expenses until 2030, if we approve a 1/4 law enforcement sales tax, in 2030, we will have funded a responsible increase in the sheriff and prosecutor's offices to accommodate a decade of population growth and also an operative reserve just over $7M.  I need you to note that this 1/4 cent sales tax will not provide any funding for a new jail.  As you should know, I am very anti-public building because they tend to be over designed, over budget, and a monument to wasted space.  The committee agreed and so did the Commission because the ballot language specifically states that these funds are not to be used for a new jail.

I am very confident that this level of funding will adequately fund our sheriff's office and will not over fund it to allow purchasing of a bunch of equipment or facilities we don't need.  While I think Sheriff Owen is very responsible and makes due with what little he gets budgeted, I don't know who might be there in 2028.

Here is the screenshot for the parks and stormwater analysis.  I understand why the tax was set at 1/2 cent years ago.  It was to build and expand the two community centers.  Community centers are extremely expensive to build, operate, and maintain.  Luckily we have the YMCA as our operator and those two buildings are generating revenue to handle O&M.  We may WANT one but we don't NEED another center or pool therefore we don't need a 1/2 cent sales tax. 

There was a long discussion on setting the new tax level at an amount to just maintain what we have vs setting it at a level to build new things.  Sales tax rates were set at 1/8 and 3/8, 3/16 and 3/16, 3/16 and 5/16, etc and the committee was able to see the impacts at respective levels.

The committee wound up agreeing that some new capital is needed to support a growing county and to take advantage of funding partnerships with cities.  Besides finishing a connected trail system, I fully supported some type of funding to allow for a grant program to provide for playgrounds and swings in all of our cities because there's nothing better to combat video game laziness than playgrounds and swings.  Kids who live in a town like Dearborn should have a place to walk or ride their bike and play together.  There are also some places with storm water problems that need to be addressed.  Under our analsysi a 1/4 cent parks and storm water sales tax is projected to generate enough to fund County parks/storm O&M and allow for a capital program of $24M for new park amenities and $6.25M for storm water improvements.

How that capital program gets spent would be up the Platte County Park Board.  The storm water projects would be chosen by the Commission. 

Now you may be wondering what type of improvements we can get for around that amount?  Well Gordon asked me that question and over a weekend I put together an example plan if I ruled the world.  I would knock out our two biggest storm water problem areas, finish a connected trail system in the southern part of the County where we've started, and set up a grant program.  In 2030, we can renew and keep connecting the County.

Again, this is me acting like king and using my years of professional experience and understanding development and business attraction to maintain and grow the tax base.  The Park Board which is appointed by the Commission would need to do a planning process to determine how to spend it.

I think Gordon wouldn't mind me sharing this story as long I as I tell everyone if I was a small business owner, I would have him on retainer to guide my future business financial decisions.  As we were deliberating, he mentioned that he wasn't exactly excited about growing the parks system and the associated O&M liabilities but after showing the map above and how it connected a lot of things, he mentioned that he saw how people liked our trail system and understood why people didn't mind paying a sales tax for them. 

As I mentioned, the committee was 100% united in a 1/4 and 1/4 cent sales tax breakdown.  None of us took this lightly.  There was a motion to split the tax at a 1/4 the night we first started looking at the spreadsheet but some of us weren't ready to make a decision without talking to some folks and looking at the numbers ourselves.  We ended up coming back a few weeks later and all agreed that 1/4 and 1/4 was the right mathematical decision based on all the information in the projections.

Here is how the questions appear on your ballot. 

For those of you that live in KCMO, you might need some more Platte County deputies on patrol if some of the "abolish prison/police" leftists get their way.  For those of you that live in smaller cities like Lake Waukomis that are relying on the County to provide law enforcement, you need to vote yes because the current funding levels don't provide the level of service you used to get from your own departments. 

Again, these funds are not going to be used for a new jail.  I had joked in the meeting that if ever I was being held hostage, my code phrase would be "I think we should raise taxes and build some new public buildings."  If you ever hear me say that, PLEASE send help.  The committee and Commission agreed with that limitation.

Anyone who might be thinking they can vote yes on one and no on the other, just keep in mind this keeps the funding for he County at the same level.  If one passes and one fails, the County Commission will have to cut services.  We need reasonable funding for our parks and our law enforcement.   We can do that by keeping our sales tax level the same. 

I could go into a bunch of other items and discussion points and you could bring up what ifs or problems with the analysis but I will close with I have not seen another governmental entity pull its executive leadership together with experienced citizen volunteers without any political influence by the governing commission, labor unions, or the building industry to come up with a solution.  It frankly is a text book case of how good government can work and Dagmar Wood, John Elliot, and Ron Schieber need to be commended for realizing the importance of this decision for the future of Platte County.

You also have a question on expanding Medicaid which isn't well thought out and legislating by ballot which is full of unintended consequences.  If you are a no vote on this, make sure you vote no on it and not the County questions.  Also, if you are all hot and bothered by the covid shutdown created cuts to education from the state budget, wait until the state budget has to fit this into an existing strapped budget.

Lastly, this post took 2 hours to put together.  In case you are wondering why I'm not publishing lately, it's because we've been busy enjoying this summer.  If you think my analysis is useful in your decision on how to vote on Tuesday, please feel free to share the post. 

Latest Metro North Mall Plan Change

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say right?  I mean I should be able to say something about the Metro North Mall redo with it's lucrative TIF financing package but I don't.  I mean I look around at floundering or ho hum retail developments all over and wonder why we keep doing what we've been doing when the market wants residences and employment integrated with it. 

Metro North posts were such a big hit when I started this blog that I created its own tag to make all the posts easy to find.  The lack of progress has bored me so I haven't bothered giving time to writing about the many plan changes since the TIF plan was approved because I didn't think the redevelopment had any viability.   It's just a monument to asphalt parking lots and cheap retail property.

There is a development plan that I think is a step in the right direction that was recently approved by KCMO on the old movie theater site (away and separated by a massive road and parking lots from the retail).  It's the dark green area in the map below.  All these renderings were pulled from the attachments for KCMO Ordinance 200369.

One thing to note is the plan and map show a future street connection over US 169 which is not feasible from an engineering perspective.  How do I know that?  Well I did a rough design of it and it won't work with the golf facility built as it was.  Someday maybe there will be a trail crossing but it needs some money and apparently there wasn't enough money in the $71M TIF to help finish the Route  152 Trail over US 169 and make the center accessible by something other than car and connect Clay County to our awesome, connected Platte County trail system.  A trail overpass project has some federal money that would be leveraged and just needs some local funding.

Here's another site location rendering looking northwest.  There's that unbuildable car bridge again.

What's being proposed is a five story office building.  It's been rumored to be a possible location (along with a few other sites) for the relocation of the FBI building at Summit and 14th Street downtown.

I know you're here for my architecture review of the project but in this case the architect for the project used to live in the dorm room across the hall from me at the University of Illinois and could share some very hilarious and juvenile stories about the Loudmouth.  I'll just say that this is the best building I've ever seen designed and he should be hired to design all your buildings.  All other architecture is trash and you're just wasting your money if you hire anyone else. 

Below are renderings that show the height of the building compared to the golf nets.  Let me just say, I kind of wish it was taller.  Those golf nets have become the defacto skyline for the northland and it would be nice to have a building with vantage of the two county area.

This is a step in the right direction from a land use standpoint.  I just wish the powers that be would see the upside of developing a real mixed-used development with 5000+ permanent residents who could support the retail in the area.  If people aren't driving to Zona Rosa for the nuance and compactness and Barrytowne is across the highway with plenty of big box space, what makes anyone think that they'll come back to what basically is every other shopping redo in the area? 

That's the problem with approving private infrastructure only TIF's like this.  The Antioch and Bannister Mall sites sat for years with TIF plans in place but no incentive or timeline for the redeveloper to use them.  We're going into the latter half of this TIF's first decade with nothing but rubble and a golf place to show for it.  I guess I shouldn't be so pessimistic.  The leases at Zona and Tiffany Springs Marketcenter are now over 10 years old so I'm sure some of those tenants might find themselves a sweet deal to move to Metro and fill out the space.  In the meantime, Metro North Crossing is still a just another suburban big box/strip mall/parking lot monument and will continue to bore me.

US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge Update

Well amazing what a six month hiatus does to average daily page views...... 

Let me just say it's been one heck of a six months.  You wouldn't believe anything I would tell you about it other than as of two weeks ago, I am no longer with KCMO so now I can officially take off the muzzle and contribute as a 100% private citizen. 

Now keep in mind being a private citizen and taxpayer first while working in government was a major factor in my effectiveness because I ignored a lot of time wasting meetings, "no-value added" red tape, and make work processes that some people thrive on following and miss the forest from the trees.  If you're in government, just remember it takes a lot of effort to fire you so do what you need to do and work for the citizens.  It's kind of fun figuring out ways around the roadblocks.  Before I digress more and before I get started on the post just a little reminder that your elected officials are under a lot of stress and you should be praying for them as they handle all of this mayhem.  What a weird and stressful time.

We are almost at the point of no return on a new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge.  On Wednesday the KCMO Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hear Ordinance 200222 which authorizes a funding agreement between KCMO and MoDOT and will be the final piece in the financing puzzle.  You can go to the ordinance website and download the PowerPoint presentation or you can watch the video below that I converted from a PPT to a 1:45 video file that's easier to absorb then downloading, finding it, and clicking through it.

In case you have forgotten, we are four years into federally required environmental planning that must be undertaken before a new bridge moves into design and construction.  Last August I did a post on the US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge alternatives that were being considered.  Sidetracking here but a lot of you responded (I think it was over 1700 comments) and there was a zip code map created which showed a lot of turnout from 64151 and areas all over the metro so you taking the time to participate really did help move the conversation and get us to where I think we need to be.

Over the winter those alternatives have been refined based on comments and other considerations and the Environmental Assessment (EA) is almost complete and there is a "preferred alternative" which has been released for public comment.  I highlighted "preferred alternative" because that's the federal process buzzword and it is important to note that this project will be a "design-build" project where the designer and builder will be teamed together and submit a bid on the project with a design and a price.  You can watch this 9+ minute US DOT video on the process if you get bored (or it rains tomorrow and you've got nothing to do outside).   There's a chance that someone (hopefully) comes up with a better final design than the preferred alternative so what gets built won't look exactly like what is being shown. 

Also, there's no rendering or detail on what the new bridge will look like because that's up to the design-build team to figure out.  Well you might be asking how do we know we are getting what we were promised?  That's a perfectly legitimate question.  What the EA does have are commitments for the project which are listed below.  You'll note commitment B-3 because that's what a lot of you noted in your August comments as being important to the project.  All of these items will need to be done by the design-build team in order to be a responsive and eligible bidder.

Here is an overview of where we are in the project schedule from the public hearing displays presented on March 10th.

Here is recap of the study area.  Don't freak out about the study extending all the way up to the MO 9 interchange.  These federal studies have to have a ending point at an intersection or another highway.  Nothing is going to be done to the section between Briarcliff and the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (CWBDA in acronym world).

Here's the expensive West Alternative. 

Here's the central and preferred alternative.

And lastly here is the adjacent alternative which costs just the same as the central but is more impactful to properties, the urban fabric, and more structure to maintain.

The north end of the CWBDA er Downtown Airport will get an improvement for ingress/egress and since there's not much room to manuever will probably look exactly like this.  It will get a new southbound on-ramp to replace one removed at the bridge today.  This will cut down on some of you "cutters" who make everything worse by creating the a double merge delay on the bridge today.   It would have been a little clearer to label the new, relocated, and improved ramps.

The left exits at the bridge will go away and people will only be able to get off when going northbound from the new bridge to get to the Airport.  The existing ramps halfway up the outer road will be upgraded with some more acceleration/deceleration distance.  Wasn't much that could be done here because there's always concern in this town with losing one parking space even if it solves world peace.  I mean seriously what is it with this town and parking?  I parked for free downtown for 10 years yet all I hear is people saying it's a pain in the rear to park downtown.  Of course I walked four tenths of a mile one way but it saved me $70/month and allowed me to lavishly partake in a steady fast food and pizza diet.  I know you aren't afraid of walking because I see a lot of you doing it more and more lately.........

Also in retrospect it might have been better to do the outer road pavement in a different color to differentiate it and make it easier to see but when these were being developed I kind of had my attention on other things.

Lastly since it's an environmental document, here's all of the environmental issues and items mapped with the preferred alternative overlaid on them.  It's kind of like a game of operation.  Squeeze the improvements in without touching anything that will make US DOT buzz.

The alternatives were evaluated using a matrix and which graphically summarizes how a lot of the discussion and analysis in the document.

Also below are the draft project goals and draft design-build procurement schedule.

Now all of this is contingent on the city/state funding ordinance passing out of committee this week.  Since City Hall is closed to visitors, it's actually rather easy to share your opinion on the matter.  Just put Ordinance 200222 in the subject and send an email to [email protected] and keep it short and sweet unless you want to add "the folks in the City Clerk's office are underappreciated and underpaid and Council should realize how much they make Council's job easier and pay them more because they are some of the funnest people to work with in City Hall."

Here is the official notice from the meeting agenda on how to watch and participate. 

Due to the State of Emergency declared for the City of Kansas, with the ban on gatherings of more than 10 people, we are asking residents to watch the meetings online and submit public comments by email.

Those who wish to comment on proposed ordinances can email written testimony to [email protected]. Comments received during the ordinance discussion will be read aloud by the City Clerk during the public comment period. Comments received after the ordinance discussion will be added to the public record by the Clerk.

The city provides several ways for residents to watch City Council meetings:
• Livestream on the city’s website at www.kcmo.gov
• Livestream on the city’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYYgwhGr1HSqRi_h5uPF2Kg
• Watch Channel 2 on your cable system. The channel is available through Time Warner Cable (channel 2 or 98.2), AT&T U-verse (channel 99 then select Kansas City) and Google Fiber on Channel 142.
• To watch archived meetings, visit the City Clerk’s website and look in the Video on Demand section: http://kansascity.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

Since the pictures above might be a little hard to see, here is a slightly zoomed in view of the preferred alternative so you can see the text.

Here is MoDOT's project webpage for the new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge where you can follow along.  Also you need to follow their YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter accounts to stay in the loop.  The people who produce content for MoDOT spend a lot of time and effort putting this information out there and so they want you to be as informed as possible because there's nothing more annoying than someone when construction starts or gets finished dropping the old "I didn't know ANYTHING about this."  Don't be that person.

Just so you know a post like this takes about two hours to work up which I usually use to watch cartoons with toddlers so we'll see how the Line Creek Loudmouth evolves going forward.  Feel free to give me some feedback on what you think I should focus on.  Check out all the category tags on the right side of the website and let me know what you find interesting.  I'd appreciate positive feedback because I am fully aware that I am a balding head stooge and make almost everything up even though I couldn't make up half the stuff I do even if I tried............

Also if this is your first foray into the new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge, you can read all my past posts by clicking on the subject tag here and get caught up on everything I had time to share.

US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge Detailed Alternatives

Well things are starting to get real.  There are now somewhat detailed drawings showing where the new US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge might go unlike the bubble renderings completed during the larger I-70/US 169 study.  MoDOT has created a narrated online public meeting.  It provides some explanation of what all is going on and you can watch it at your convenience.  To avoid skewing or imparting personal bias, I'm just going to lay out the slides.  I will say that this is probably the most complex project MoDOT has undertaken in the past twenty-five years because of the complexity of the Missouri River, a functioning and busy airport, a transcontinental railroad river crossing, three separate railroads with geometric constraints, historical area of the origin of Kansas City, commuter and through traffic, and urban connectivity.  There's no easy answer otherwise it would have been done earlier.

In all of these slides, the Charles Wheeler Downtown Airport is above the top of the aerial, I-70 goes from left to right, and the I-35 west freeway loop is in the lower left hand corner.  The options get more expensive the further west the bridge goes because of the geometry of the three railroads and limited places to put bridge piers.

First option is the "No Build" Alternative.  Federal process requires establishing a baseline condition to show what happens if nothing is done. 

For the "Build" alternatives, the exhibits are color coded.  The dark blue denotes long span bridges.  Long span bridges like the span over the main channel can be 300-450 feet long but the girders have to be steel and are like 12-20' feet tall.  The light green denotes short span bridges.  These can be 20-150 or so feet long and can be concrete or steel.  This is your typical overpass bridge like the one we are building at Old Tiffany Springs Road over I-29.  The yellow denotes pavement on existing grade or built on with retaining walls.  The light blue denotes the I-35 direct connect flyovers.  In all the alternatives, the new bridge will have three lanes northbound for merging as crossing the river and one of the lanes will function as an exit only lane for the ramp to the Downtown Airport exit because there's no way to widen US 169 north of the airport because of the River and railroad yard.

The West Alternative is the most expensive because of the geometry of the three railroads creates a very limited places to put bridge piers hence more dark blue.

The Central Alternative is a little cheaper than the West because there's more room to place bridge piers so the bridge spans are shorter (and consequently cheaper).  It has less dark blue and more light blue which leads to a lower cost.

The consultant team did a rough exhibit to show what the I-35 direct connect flyovers would look like because the urban design and impact of this project is important to understand. 

The Adjacent Alternative builds the shortest bridge possible but adds some additional turn lanes to push more cars through the 6th and Broadway traffic signals.

The Adjacent Alternative has the option to add I-35 direct connection flyovers later which is shown below.

There isn't planned to be much change to the highway north of the Missouri River.  The left hand ramps will go away and Richards Road will be slightly adjusted to the west to make the right-in, right-out ramps up to proper standards for high speed merging.  These changes will require approval from the Federal Aviation Administration which adds another level of complexity to figuring all of this out.

Lastly, since the Trump Administration announced the 2019 INFRA grants and Missouri received $81M to build a new Rocheport I-70 Bridge, that triggers Governor Parson's $300M bridge bonding program.  For details on that, check out Fox4's Dave D'Marko's story last month.

Now that you've read all this, watch the online public meeting.

You are now up to speed on the project.  Here's the key part.  During the I-70/US 169 study that started all of this, over 2700 of you participated with the online surveys.  The response was from all over the metro as shown in this zip code heat map.  

Let's duplicate that response and make sure you share the presentation and survey with your friends.

Here is the official MoDOT US 169 Buck O'Neil Bridge online public meeting page.

Here is the survey.  Make sure you do this as soon as you can.  I created a FB page event to remind you if you want to click here and add it to your calendar.  Don't pass up the opportunity to help influence decisions that will impact the greater Kansas City metro area for the next 75 years.

Maplewoods Parkway Groundbreaking

Sometimes I forget things I post on this site and probably should follow up every so often.  This is one of those cases.  If you've been reading for a while, you might remember back in 2016 a lot of you commented when KCMO applied for a federal grant to rebuild and improve North Woodland. 

Thanks to some crafty grant writing and overcoming some things unmentioned, in August/September of 2016 KCMO received a $6M federal grant towards construction and had a public meeting prior to securing right of way back in 2017.

Well all the easements necessary for the road were secured, all the federal red tape was satisfied, and less than three years after receiving federal funds, the Kansas City Missouri Parks and Recreation Department has bid and awarded a contract to rebuild the corridor and will be breaking ground next Tuesday July 30, 2019 at 10AM. 

The official big brother social media invite is here so you can add it to your calendar and share the event. 

Join us! Tuesday, July 30 at 10am #KCParks #goKC More>>https://t.co/45XRY2n75P @KCNorthlandInfo @NorthlandNewsCC

— KCMO Parks and Rec (@KCMOParks) July 25, 2019

In case you missed the meetings or other posts, North Woodland from 96th Street up to Shoal Creek Parkway will be rebuilt as a two lane parkway with on-street bike lanes, curbs, streetlights, a sidepath trail on the east side, and a sidewalk on the other. 

The project will also include roundabouts at 96th Street, 100th Street, 106th Street, and Shoal Creek Parkway to eliminate the traffic stoppages caused by the 4 way stops.  Here are some excerpts from the public meeting display.  I'm sure some things changed as the design was finalized but it should give you a general idea of what the final project will look like. North is the right and west is to the top of the pictures.  This one is from 96th Street at the left roundabout and 100th Street at the right roundabout.

Next one has the 100th Street roundabout on the left and the overhead power lines/station/Staley golf maintenance shed on the right.

Next one continues with the the overhead power lines/station/Staley golf maintenance shed on the left and the 106th Street peanut about on the right.

Last one has the 106th Street peanut about on the left and the Shoal Creek Parkway roundabout and end of the project on the right.

Why roundabouts?  Simple, the roundabouts are more efficient than 4 way stop and signalized intersections.  One has to just go one mile west and look at how overbuilt the North Oak and Shoal Creek Parkway is.  Signals create inefficiency which create the need to widen to four lanes.  Rather than overbuild the project in three phases, over half the corridor can be rebuilt as a safe road.  Think of North Brighton north of Vivion Road which is 5 lanes and then turns right back into an unimproved 2 lane farm road right in front of Ravenwood Elementary.  That project was done back in 2010 or so and almost ten years later the next phase is about to begin because 5 lane roads are extremely expensive.  Ask yourself if you'd want to wait another twenty years to fix the unsafe corridor or would rather have a safe two lane parkway.

One day when one of the kids had a practice at Happy Rock Park, I took my bike and rode the Shoal Creek Trail up to Barry Road then took Maplewoods Parkway up to 96th Street.  I then continued up to about 106th Street where I turned around.  I've ridden my bike on Route 9 through the 635 and 169 interchanges, Broadway through Penn Valley Park, 47th Street in the Plaza, and Front Street in the Northeast Industrial District and let me just say that North Woodland was by far the street I felt most likely to die on.

There is no semblance of a shoulder and it's an instant drop off at the side of the pavement.  The pavement is trash because it's a gravel road that just had some asphalt slapped on it over the years.

The hills hinder sight lines so it's hard to see a car let alone a walker or bicyclist.  I had the pleasure of taking the ditch when two big trucks went by.

The project manager for the Parks Department that did this job worked his tail off and gets all the credit for it.  I'd name him but he'd chew me out because he's extremely humble.  If you live in the area, check out the groundbreaking and thank him for leading a positive team that was focused on getting the road rebuilt and getting it rebuilt as soon as possible.

I'm not sure of the phases and which portion will start first but if I were you, I'd follow KC Parks on social media here, here, here, and here to stay up to date on things all over KCMO.  You might also need to remind me to do some follow up posts as construction happens.

Clean Out Your Closet and Help Others

Let's be honest. We all have more than we need so now it's a good time to clean the closets and help others. 

Antioch Bible Baptist Church in Gladstone is having its annual clothing give-away this Saturday and it's an annual event where the Church offers our community free clothing.

You can help!  If any of you have some gently used clothing you are looking to donate, it can be dropped off at Antioch Bible Baptist (800 NE 72nd Street, Gladstone, MO 64118 or 3 blocks east of North Oak).

Children and infant clothing is in big demand at this event and if you could assist by separating and label the clothing according to men, women, teen girls, boys, girls, infant boys, and infant girls, it would help all of our volunteer sorters get the clothing set up in the right area.  Tax-receipt forms will be available for those of you that are willing to help. 

Famous Moments in American Pop Culture

Ladies and gentlemen, on this day 28 years ago in 1991 one of the most iconic songs of the 90's (and unofficial song for the Line Creek Loudmouth) was released.

Sit back and enjoy Right Said Fred.