This blog features observations from Line Creek Valley resident Wes Minder. The comments on the blog do not represent the views of the City of Kansas City, MO, Platte County, MO, the Park Hill School District, my wife, my children, Warner Brothers, Blacque Jacqcue Shellacque, my wife's employer, the Platte Brooke North HOA, the TIF Commission of Kansas City, space aliens, the University of Illinois, Rockhurst University, or any other governmental or private group mentioned on this site. Any comments are the opinions of the respective commenter and are not reflective of any governmental or private group. Posts may be scheduled and spaced out to go live during hours of the day so time stamps are not reflective of the actual time of post writing. Any political endorsements are not paid and the cost of this blog is all borne by myself. The opinions on the blog posts are the opinions of one person-Wes Minder aka the Line Creek Loudmouth.
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.
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.
The winter has gone on too long and given me a March cold. However, is supposed to be a balmy 50 or so Friday so you should get outside and come to Happy Rock Park for the groundbreaking of the next phase of the Shoal Creek Trail. Here's a link to the official Facebook link for the event as a reminder. Please share.
If you like these trails, show up and thank your elected officials for funding them. This one has a federal grant and is another Gladstone/KCMO partnership project like the first phase of the trail. It's pretty cool what two cities can do working together. Without this partnership, improvements to Pleasant Valley Road, NE 76th Street, and North Broadway would have not happened this decade.
This section of tell also wouldn't have happened without an easement from the Knights of Colmbus so if any of you are a member of the Council on Kensington Road, thank you.
This section of the trail goes by a large pool in Shoal Creek. Here's a preview.
If you haven't been along 152 past the struggling (and under new ownership) Zona Rosa lately you probably haven't noticed that the latest segment of the Route 152 Trail is almost complete. This segment of the trail will go from Amity over towards I-29 and is almost 2 miles long. The first half of the project from Congress east towards I-29 and was done earlier this summer. This is looking east from Congress towards the old hotel which is soon to become an indoor storage center.
The trail crosses Congress just north of the 152 roundabout. This is looking south towards 152.
The trail goes along the south side of the Riverstone Apartments and was built by Price Brothers when they developed the property. This is looking west from the end of the trail they built towards Amity.
The trail follows along 152 but because of the design, the trees along the fenceline were preserved and the highway is not visible. Here is a view to the west from where the open old farmed area transitions to what I assume used to be a pastured area.
The next picture is looking east from about halfway between Amity and Congress. The highway is on the right or south side of the picture.
This segment is relatively flat but starts a steady decline towards the west.
The trail curves away from the highway and down into a mini streamway valley. This is looking west at the bottom of the decline.
People are already using it. This is looking east at the box culvert crossing and the sycamore tree that hopefully will survive.
What's neat about this streamway crossing is the rock channel and series of mini waterfall pools. There is a great deal of rock and it would be cool if the rock dude/dudette on the Line Creek Trail or some industrious community group did some stepping stones down to the water so kids could get down to the creek and throw rocks in the water.
Next picture is looking east towards the stream from where the trail goes from the highway slope to the valley.
The trail transitions to a flat platform along the 152 westbound off ramp to Amity.
The trail crosses over Amity at a new median. This is looking east from the end of the trail. The guy in the picture is an erosion control inspector and he told me that he just saw a bald eagle flying from the Weatherby Lake area into the woods north of the trail which I just missed seeing.
Looks like fencing still needs to be installed before it's safe to use and the grass seed needs to take before it officially is open.
Following up on yesterday's NW 64th Street/Southern Platte Pass Trail post, a big connector from the Line Creek Trail is under construction that is going to make a big difference in getting around by bike and for all the folks that live on the west side of Line Creek. Both the I-29 outer roads, Prairie View and Roanridge, have nice wide, bike-able shoulders. However, if someone is using Prairie View to come down from Zona or even the KCI area, there is no safe way to get through the I-29/I-635 interchange from Prairie View or Roanridge to the Line Creek Trail. That means anyone wishing to bike commute has to backtrack a couple of miles via 64th Street to safely get to Riverside/NKC/DT. I've gone through here before but only going north out of Riverside then using the NB Gateway on-ramp and then tossing my bike over the highway fence onto Roanridge and going through the fence where others had cut the chain link because some people have to walk through there like this guy who was walking through. This picture was taken as I was biking.
In case you aren't familiar with the area because you don't live in the Sunpointe Village subdivision area, NW 56th Street just dead ends. Why does it dead end? Well the elevation difference between where 56th ends and Waukomis intersects on the other side is 80-90 feet so it is economically and environmentally unfeasible to ever have a street connection between the two because it would require moving a 16" waterline cut through the trees, cutting 10-15 feet into solid rock, and probably a 300-400 foot long bridge over Line Creek.
There used to be a way to get through from the intersection of 56th/Byfield to Waukomis and you can read about it and the old bridge along the Line Creek Trail here. You can also take a look at the 1964 aerial for the area and the tract of ground that is being used to build the trail by clicking here. Here is how the trail connector will be laid out to connect between the Line Creek Trail and 56th and still be within a usable grade.
One huge suck thing about this area is the honeysuckle has consumed it and is choking out everything. Fortunately equipment makers have invented a grinder that fits on the front of a skid loader and not only clears brush, it grinds it up and leaves it in place. This is a picture, taken from the dead end of 56th, of the track hoe from the rear (shaddup) and a peek at the grinder.
That little machine takes care of all that nasty honeysuckle in no time. This is looking south from NW 56th Street. Note that this was the old roadbed of how people got to Riverside and there is a power line with transformer which used to serve an old farmhouse on the property.
The trail will curve to the east/left from the picture above and you can start to see some of the beauty of this piece of park property. This is looking due east.
Recently a sanitary sewer was put in because a lot of the houses south of 56th were built pre-KCMO annexation and are on septic tank. The cleared area is one of those sanitary sewers. This is looking southeast.
The cleared area for the sewer does have some advantages. Even though it took out some trees, it did take out a lot of honeysuckle and opened up views of the valley. This is looking east along the sewer and showing a glimpse of the topography.
The next picture is looking southeast and shows another place where the trail crosses the sewer and shows the big drop off down to the Line Creek Trail. You may be asking why didn't the trail just follow the sewer and the answer is that the sewer doesn't have to have a reasonble grade or worry about complying with Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines. The trail needs to be longer than the sewer and zig zag so that the 80-90 foot elevation difference can be spread out. Also, it doesn't make sense to put a trail on top off or too close to a sewer because someday that sewer will need to be repaired or replaced and the trail needs to be far enough away to not be impacted.
That being said, a little bit of the trail is near the sewer as shown by the pink survey stakes. This is looking northwest and will be a slightly flat part of the trail. Note the beauty of the oaks (and the evil of the yellow honeysuckle).
This next picture is looking north near the halfway point with the vista of the very dense oaks showing some beautiful color this fall.
This show is looking northwest with the trail on the left of the silt fence. I just included it because it shows the healthy oaks and a strand of cedars. It also shows how Ozarky this piece of ground is.
This next shot is looking 180 degrees from the picture above and looking east. Here is where the bluff falls off to the Line Creek valley. This part is going to be the challenge for anyone on a bike getting a start up the trail.
Lastly in case you were wondering where it will tie into the Line Creek Trail, this is looking north and it's about 300 or so feet south of the retaining wall and old bridge. The new trail will be before the cleared area.
In case you were wondering what the construction was along NW 64th Street east of I-29, the 30 year old narrow sidewalk is being replaced with an 8-10 foot wide trail which will remove the gap in the Southern Platte Pass Trail. When this work between I-29 and Strathbury at the entrance to the Coventry neighborhood is complete, everyone along Route 45/NW 64th Street all the way out to Union Chapel and 45 will be able to get to the Line Creek Trail. In the map below, white shows the limits of the improvement and green shows existing trails.
The contractor isn't wasting any time. This is looking east from the Northland Passage apartments entrance near I-29 where the grading is done and the rock base is ready for compaction.
Concrete work is about halfway done. This is looking east from NW London which is the second ingress/egress to the apartments.
Sometimes things that need to be retrofitted aren't exactly ideal and have to be worked around like telecommunication equipment. This is looking west from Strathbury which is the entrance to Coventry.
Lastly this is corresponding looking east view which shows how the new trail ties into the existing trail along the south side of NW 64th Street near the fire station.
This will tie into the trail underneath I-29 which I did a post about in 2012 where you can learn about the type of retaining wall built with that project.
I've been doing a lot more biking to work lately. Part of it is because I have a goal to do it once a week. Part of it is because I drive older, late model cars that sometimes need some preventative maintenance or repair. I dropped off the car in Parkville yesterday so I biked into downtown along every part of Route 9 and survived.
I took a break here this morning and pondered increasing my life insurance policy online..... pic.twitter.com/vZ69qPhMOh
I've blogged about the US 169 and Route 9 issues and the railroad "bridge of death" before. We've got a pretty amazing connected trail system that's come together but unfortunately there are some glaring unsafe gaps that 99% of you would never even think about riding a bike through.
I am no longer going to complain or think it's tough biking from Platte County to downtown KCMO or North KC because today (since it's kids eat free night everywhere) the kids had a dentist appointment in the Shoal Creek area so after work I biked up to the Liberty area to meet the family so we could go to Zaxby's™. Let's just say there's no comfortable way to bike from downtown KCMO to Liberty or southern Clay County.
I chose to go through the Old Northeast and down the hill on Chestnut Trafficway but had to ride Front Street for a little then Riverfront Road. After crossing the Chouteau Bridge, I really didn't want to take the hill on Chouteau Parkway and the steady climb on Parvin. I would have loved to have gotten on old Birmingham Road but there is no way to get from the bridge down. I ended up using the shoulder of Route 210 over to Searcy Creek Parkway and then cut through the Maple Park area.
Anyways, there is a competitive planning grant funding opportunity underway so there are some projects north of the river in this area you might be interested. Two of the projects I could have really used the past two days. The Mid-America Regional Council is looking for feedback on projects so here are links to the applications where you can comment one way or the other.
Today was one of those days where just a simple thing like getting a project out to bid completely makes putting up with all the government stupidity and frustration worth it. I've blogged in the past about getting something to implementation in government can be pointless but it's all forgotten when work is ready to start.
There is very little common sense in government workings nowadays. Don't get me wrong there are well-intentioned folks who enjoy getting things done and being helpful but they also don't want to waver too far outside "the process" and get reprimanded or yelled at by the process trolls. There are also folks who create all sorts of red tape for the sole purpose of guaranteeing a job rather than creating value or production. What's fun to watch is how the process trolls react to the handful of us that can porcupine process back at them and work around all the inanity and do what needs to be done and avoid what is a complete waste of your money (see my Line Creek Trail thank you post before you condemn).
Anyways, after some last minute changes that I shall not mention because I've already got gnashing of teeth from the previous prose, the next phase of the Route 152 Trail is out to bid which will build a trail along the north side of Route 152 from I-29 west over to Amity.
The project has two separate federal grants (thanks process trolls, SERENITY NOW) so Segment 3 of the Trail starts on the west side of Amity and connects over to the short little existing trail near the apartments on the northwest corner of the 152/Congress interchange. The new trail is illustrated by the white lines for the pavement edge and the light blue lines are metal/plastic pipes and the magenta line is a box culverts.
Near Amity, the trail is going to be built a little bit up the hill from the westbound Amity off ramp. The centerline was field staked a while back so you might see where it will go but to give you an idea, this picture is looking west (towards Kansas) about halfway up the ramp.
This picture is roughly from the same point looking east towards Zona Rosa™.
Why is the trail here up the hill? Well it would be nice to have a flat section of the trail versus going up and over that monstrous hill.
Even though this trail will be along the highway, thanks to donations from Hawthorn Bank™ who donated the easements after a short phone call (so patronize them please because they are one of the top two banks I've dealt with regarding trails, Valley View™ being the other) and also a donation by Hunt Midwest the trail will meander away from the highway right of way into this small valley. In the picture, I am looking east towards Zona and standing right north of where the exit ramp starts.
I had to finagle the design in this area because there is some rock which makes installing the concrete box culvert a little tricky but I also wanted to save the monstrous, white sycamore tree which has been there for a while and is really awesome up close and under its canopy.
Segment 4 of the trail goes from Congress over to Old Tiffany Springs Road near the eyesore high rise hotel and is shown in the general alignment of the blue line below.
Remember above when I told you how Hawthorn Bank was awesome to work with on Segment 3? Well here I will spill the beans that Key Bank™ was difficult to work with and thanks to them, there will be a gap in the trail along Congress where folks will have to use the sidewalk or bike lanes because Key's got their own process trolls.
What's even better about it? Key Bank™ goes to all sorts of effort to promote themselves as an environmentally sustainable bank on their website. Too bad their environmentally sustainable efforts include not giving a rat's behind about building a trail that will allow people to get to work, school, shopping, etc using a bike or by foot. I guess "going green" for them means going green for the green.
When the trail finally opens and something doesn't look right, you can thank Key Bank™ for being a complete excrement sandwich of a corporation (no wonder why people like old Bernie hate the banks). I can add them to my list of companies like Curry Investment Company that have held up progress on building community amenities.
Once this phase of the 152 Trail is done, there will be a monstrous gap to get over I-29.
Bike riders on Old Tiffany Springs Rd bridge over I-29. Like the margin for error with the low railing? pic.twitter.com/7kG5TrRI73
However, hopefully construction of a new bridge will start soon so we can safely get across as shown below.
I had hoped this would be wrapping up about now so my oldest could bike to Park Hill and K2 could bike to Congress so I wouldn't have to chauffeur and deal with the hassle of I-29 interchange traffic signals but K1's going to be old enough to drive by the time it opens.
When the bridge gets done, we'll have a connection from Amity all the way over to US 169 and Costco™ and roughly 45-60k folks who will be within a mile of a trail system to get around for work or pleasure. Something like that would be pretty attractive to an international company looking for a new corporate headquarters wouldn't it???
If I were you, I would also let the folks at MoDOT know how much you appreciate all of these connected trails. A lot of them wouldn't be possible without their cooperation and permission to use their right of way. You can let them know here or via Twitter.
I had the chance a while back to take the Missouri River Trail on the Riverside/Quindaro Bend Levee and forgot just how pretty it is. Back before the Line Creek Trail was finished, we used to ride this a lot because it was about three miles long and worth loading up the bikes and trailer. However, I don't ever ride it anymore because usually I just take the shoulder on Route 9 and cut through the I-635 interchange then hop the guardrail to get to the Line Creek Trail when I do the Parkville loop.
However one day I dropped the car off at the ever so awesome Chuck's Parkville Garage first thing in the morning then rode to work. I didn't want to do the I-635 interchange at morning rush hour. It's bad enough that the only way downtown is having to deal with the MoDOT Route 9 "bridge of death" so I figured I would only test my luck once that morning.
Wondering who doesn't (but wants to) bike commute from Northland to downtown bc of the railroad bridge on Burlington pic.twitter.com/R6h76sDkgF
Anyways, the best place to use the Missouri River Trail is to park near the oil tanks on the south side of Route 9 near the landscaping company. There is a brown sign leading to the trailhead but here is a link to the map.
The trail starts out on the wet (ie not flood protected) side of the levee with a bridge over the outlet for Burlington Creek. The day I went through the river was up and it was close to the bridge bottom.
The trail is under the canopy of a bunch of large cottonwood trees.
The trail will go up and over a tall hump which is a rail for a crane used to unload barge shipments for the neighboring manufacturing plant. The trail then comes out of the woods and into an open prairie area which is pretty awesome.
The trail then transitions from asphalt to crushed limestone on top of the levee.
The trail goes under the I-635 bridge and unless you're scared of birds, you should be okay.
The levee top gets a little boring when on a long ride.
It does offer the opportunity to see plenty of deer and wild turkey. I happened to see both.
The trail connects to the new pathway on the US 69 bridges and the sidewalks which lead to the Line Creek Trail and E.H. Young Riverfront Park. It's a nice little path if you have helicopter tendencies but children in different age abilities because it's pretty easy to see them on the levee top.
If you aren't doing anything Saturday morning, get some gloves and a scarf and ride up to the dedication and opening of another phase of the Route 152 Trail.
This adds another two miles to the system and makes the Route 152 Trail over five miles and a network that is connecting people to places and economic opportunities.
In case you missed my earlier post about the Route 152 trail and aren't sure where it is, it follows the south side of Route 152 from Line Creek Parkway east to US 169 and goes right by the Northland Costco™ which is under construction.
This project was a big partnership between KCMO, Platte County, the YMCA of Kansas City, and the Platte County Economic Development Council. Without a bunch of folks working together, this would not be happening so if you don't have any plans Saturday morning, please come by and thank them for this project. Bring the kiddos and let them play on the YMCA Challenger playgrounds and make it a fun family morning.
Taking a vacation from summer vacation tonight and sharing the progress on the Route 152 Trail from Line Creek Parkway over to US 169. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click the hyperlink in the previous sentence for the background and aerial map of the project. I've also been doing some minor posts on the Facebook page so if you haven't, go here and like it to stay updated. I've been quiet mostly because it's summer but also because my downstairs PC crashed and I recycled one from someone (thanks Mark) and installed a Ubuntu Linux system on it and have been enjoying playing with programs. I know how popular trail posts are because the first post on this project had a greater Facebook reach than my CostcoTM post.
Posts like this take some time to upload all the pictures and so I'm going to be short on verbiage. I have a bunch of pictures I took last Friday night and tonight so I'll just start at Line Creek Parkway and go east. This is looking northeast from the end of the Route 152 Trail on the east side of the parkway.
The trail follows the existing topography up to the south side of the 152 right of way where it turns and goes due east.
The nice thing about this stretch is there is a substantial buffer between the highway and trail and this is looking east.
The trail eventually reaches the Barry Heights neighborhood where it follows NW 88th Street.
It then winds up on the YMCA Challenger Park where we are grading down to provide more level space for the park and using the dirt to fill in and help the trail be more level and user friendly. I'm looking west from Old Stagecoach Road.
This looking west from the parking lot for the park.
Here I am standing north of the baseball field looking west. That sanitary manhole played a big role in the design of the trail through here. I was trying to figure out whether I should cut the trail into the sideslope of the baseball field or haul dirt in to bench the trail on the slope. I ended up deciding not to screw with the manhole and put the trail elevation at the top of the manhole.
This is looking east from the east edge of the park. There is a six foot by six foot concrete box culvert in the drainage draw which costs money but because it was so large, the trail is nice and not so hilly.
The trail follows a decent 5% slope from Platte Purchase down to the box culvert which is the view here. Route 152 is just to the right and Platte Purchase is behind me.
This is the connection to the west side of Platte Purchase. I'm looking north towards the 152 eastbound off ramp.
The section just east of Platte Purchase and I'm looking west. This section isn't going to have much grading because there is a 24" water main along here. That's what the blue flags and light blue markers denote.
We're walking west here halfway along the 152 on ramp which is to the right.
This is what it will look like east of the picture below. The trail through here will be nice and flat although someone is getting a little tired of walking.
There is some really nice black organic soil along the corridor sitting on top of heavy clay. The heavy clay doesn't drain and there was a mud pit which....
was the best part of the whole project for the boys.
The older two even figured out that if they worked together they could throw a humongous clod and get an humongous splat.
The mud pit was so much fun the six year old told me he wanted one of these in the backyard.....
This is looking southeast along the ramp from 152 east to 169 south. The trail is being cut down in this area to match future development plans. It also frees up dirt which is being hauled down to NW 88th Street for the future bridge crossing. Managing dirt is one way to save a ton of money on public projects and frees up those funds to build more cool stuff.
This shot is looking northwest. The cloverleaf ramp is to the right.
The site eventually levels out and the trail starts to follow 169 which is on the left. Someone thought corn stalks were funny.....
This is halfway between 152 and NW 88th Street with US 169 on the left. Note how we've left cleared trees in place for erosion control. We also have silt fence at the culvert areas. It doesn't make much sense to spend money putting up continuous silt fence along a soybean field.
This is looking north from where the trail turns from NW 88th Street and goes north and 169 is on the right side of the picture.
Now this post took about an hour and a half to upload all the pictures (free 5mbs fiber) and now I probably should turn the computer off and go to bed. It was kind of fun to take a break from late night trail designing to do some updating.
Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to get more trail connections. The cool thing about this project is it connects to the YMCA Challenger Park. It also allows everyone who lives along Line Creek Parkway and 152 to walk to Pathfinder Elementary and Barry Middle Schools. I also have some Panoramio™ pictures of the corridor uploaded here and on Google Earth™.
I am going to try and not offend anyone but this project had me to the point where I was ready say "screw it I'm done with this all."
Why? I'd gone batcrap crazy. For the longest time the endangered Indiana bat had put some construction restrictions on road and trail projects. Tree clearing could not occur between April Fool's Day and Halloween.
Why? Well Indiana bats spend winters in caves and like to summer vacation in northern Missouri (seriously that's what I read on a regulatory page). Bats like to find dead trees with flaky bark or certain tree species which have similar characteristics because they have baby bats between the tree trunk and the bark.
However, since it was from Indiana (Big 10 joke there) and not found all over the state, those restrictions were just kind of out there with little enforcement. Enter white nose bat syndrome.
What is white nose bat syndrome? Read all about it here. It's a fatal disease decimating bat populations and has put the long eared bat on the endangered species list. Someone at U.S. Fish and Wildlife had a meeting with someone at Federal Highway Administration and now it's all bats all the time and our state agencies are scrambling to try and figure out what process needs to be followed and who needs to determine if a project impacts any bat habitats. For example, on this trail project , I submitted final plans before Christmas with the thought that KCMO would open bids first week of February and construction would start before the end of the month. Trees would all be gone before bat summer vacation.
Well it turned out the project needed an updated environmental tracking document and since the threatened and endangered species process had changed, work needed to be done to update that tracking form. I had to get representatives from the state out to walk the job and inspect all trees on the project. We identified a handful of solid dead bat trees.
What does a potential bat habitat tree look like? This:
State staff had to take the pictures with a narrative and submit to Jefferson City. Jefferson City had to send to U.S. Fish and Wildlife. U.S. Fish and Wildlife had to okay removing the trees and communicate back to Jefferson City who then relayed the information to local staff and then to me. While that took place, the project couldn't bid. By the time the final approval was obtained, the earliest bids could be opened is April 5th which means construction would start during the restricted tree clearing time period which means the project would have to be delayed until 2017. Right now, gas is cheap and who knows what will happen in a year and construction prices always go up because American labor cannot be outsourced to China. The cost of the project would have gone up, no value would have been added by this process, and there would be a chance that the project would be cancelled due to it being over budget.
Rather than that happen, how does someone who wants to get things built cheap and fast get around that? One wanders over to the maintenance manager's office and asks if staff would like to do some extra paid work and clear trees. Fortunately I work with a great team and management wholeheartedly agreed to do it because their staff doesn't get the chance to earn some extra money and tree clearing is a lot more fun than patching potholes. From a taxpayer standpoint, paying staff on the weekends is cheaper than hiring a contractor to do it so everyone wins.
If you've driven by the new Costco™ site, along the south side of Route 152, some advance tree clearing has been done. The goal of this clearing is to just knock the trees down and try to leave roots and the waste along the cleared area to not cause erosion. This is on the southwest side of the US 169/MO152 cloverleaf.
Course the trail is along a great deal of farm ground which has acres of tilled dirt exposed all year round so minor clearing isn't going to cause any issues. Again, forest from the trees. At some point, I expect farmers to have to install silt fence around everything because we've lost our ability to think in this country (note-erosion is natural and streams need silt).
Now keep in mind if the project had bid in the first week of February, all the trees would have been torn down in March and no baby bats would have been impacted. The only thing this tree investigation accomplished was a great deal of frustration to me and a couple of months delay in opening the trail. No value was added to the project from this exercise in government process.
How do I respond? Encourage you to vote for Ted Cruz Tuesday. Why? Because he's the only one that has consistently been talking about taking on the DC machine and returning power to the states.
I feel he's the only one that is committed to less federal control and regulatory agencies. We don't need the EPA, USFWS, USACE, MoDNR, and MoDOC all regulating stormwater and endangered species. All this does is cause your local government to have to hire consultants to fill out forms and make sure all the T's are crossed. Luckily my professional background allows me to handle most of this. If I didn't do all this, the costs of these trails would go up which means they'd be less likely to be funded because money is tight and stroad widening projects are so massively expensive. Now if I was doing a landfill or a mining operation or something similarly big, I wouldn't be complaining about permits because those have true environmental impacts. It's an extreme analogy, but I honestly feel that if I wanted, I could get a child labor internment camp permitted if I hired the right consultants because civil servants are so focused on process following and never look at the big picture. It's like the captain of the Hindenburg worrying about making sure every bathroom has toilet paper on the roll right when the ship starts to burn. The process is TP on every roll all the time not is the ship going down.
There should be a requirement that every government agency start the day or meeting off with a pledge:
I pledge to provide value to the taxpayer today. I pledge to ask "How does this provide value to the taxpayer?" on all decisions and process changes. I pledge to ask "Who do I serve and why am I here?" every morning.
The amount of government we have in this country is a blob. I see it all the time with people who think having a big important process to approve and manage means job security. While that may be the case, it doesn't do anything for improving things. All is does is feed the blob. You know what else feeds the blob? When taxes go up, spending goes up. When spending goes up, the blob gets heavier. The blob never goes on a diet.
When people are upset about the lack of results in an area, the "cure" is often a new "coordinator" or "division" which is created to try and get results from within the blob which was supposed to do that job to begin with (ie thanks GWB for the Dep't of Homeland Security). Eventually that new creation becomes part of the blob. Unfortunately, many people entering into government jobs get demoralized and alienated because the system is littered with process focused managers who were once promising employees but absorbed by the blob. No matter how hard anyone tries, the blob can't be moved. Small parts of it can only be tugged away from the central mass. The key is to be so nimble that the blob can't move fast enough to thwart a new initiative.
I know a lot of you work in regulatory agencies and I really do appreciate your help and patience. I just wish it was easier to build things that really build a community and make lives better for everyone. A trail project should not have the same level of regulatory process as building an interstate or building a nuclear power plant.
If this post rubs anyone the wrong way, consider it a challenge. Want to work in government and make a difference? Focus on the end result which in this case is little kids being able to ride their bike to school or a park. When some poor citizen comes in wanting to build a deck or a shed in the backyard or finish a basement, try to get them their permit as soon as possible and with only one trip to blob HQ.
Has anyone in government ever gotten a gold star or award from the public for being the best at process government? I don't think anyone gets any reward from the "blob gods." The blob afterlife seems to be a meager pension and stress related health problems. The public doesn't care how something gets done as long as it's done in the most efficient and fastest way.
I can't tell you all how awesome a feeling it is to see a family or little kid out using a new trail/park or a disabled person being able to use a new sidewalk to get from home to the store without having to dodge cars in the road. Smile, be helpful, and if someone succeeds in moving the blob, try and learn from them and encourage it.
Thank for allowing me to vent my frustrations at the blob. This is my only release. It should not take so long to get from project initiation to project construction with today's technology. If the current regulatory and attitude of civil servants existed when JFK gave the initiative to get to the moon, we'd still be deciding on make up of the launch pad selection committee, doing an update to the tenth environmental impact statement, and fighting in the courts on the launch pad location. The only thing happening would be engineers/architects pocketing millions and millions of dollars in fees and they've become really good at studying and re-studying things lately.
I just know that at the end of my career, I will be able to look back at all the wonderful things I was able to help with and give the blob the finger much like one of the best leaders in this country's history.
I finally did it today. Every single inch of the Line Creek Trail. The wind was out of the south at 15mph and the ride uphill was easy because of it. There were a couple of spots in the woods where snow still covered the trail and since it is winter, one should always take caution when riding a bike so as to not slip on any ice or snow. This is the downhill and into the wind leg of my ride.
It ended up being 9 miles total from Argosy Casino Parkway to the starting point for the future Second Creek Trail at the end of Old Tiffany Springs Road.
The horses north of Old Tiffany Springs Road seemed to think I looked funny with my winter bike coverings because they just kept staring at me. There were a ton of hikers and joggers out but I was the only cyclist. Tomorrow is supposed to be another nicer day so get out and enjoy it.
I always try to get a decent bike ride the day of or day before I referee a varsity football game. It helps get my legs stretched and warmed up. My mind is sharper and I am less tired the next day.
Anyways, a couple of weeks ago it didn't work out that I could get a decent ride in on my usual routes so I brought my bike with me and explored some of the Liberty greenway trails. While they are more for walking/jogging I did get a decent enough ride to get me through my game by using some streets.
I don't know how they came to fruitition but part of the greenway system was built on the old Excelsior Springs Interurban railroad line.
I uploaded some pictures to Panoramio and you can see them mapped here.
There was even a foundation of an old post still there.
The other trails were just built in greenways along sewer corridors.
You can read more about the Excelsior Springs Interurban here. I excerpted some paragraphs.
"Retiring from active banking in 1908 to devote his full attention toward promoting the interurban, St. Joseph financier Charles F. Enright is largely responsible for the Kansas City, Clay County and St. Joseph (K.C., C.C. and St. J) Railway Company. Enright solicited financial support from Eastern capitalists, secured franchises and the necessary right-of-ways for the road. The system consisted of a 51 mile division linking Kansas City to St. Joseph, and a 28 mile line to the spas of Excelsior Springs. The original Kansas City terminal was located at Thirteenth and Walnut streets, but was moved in 1920 to the Railway Exchange building at Seventh and Walnut."
"Two trains left simultaneously from Kansas City and Excelsior Springs, converging on Liberty, where one pulled into a siding to let the other through. At the Excelsior Springs station (currently V.F.W. Post 741), the conductor would reverse the trolley, and the westbound run was made backwards. The cars ran hourly from dawn until midnight. Riding the full length of the route cost 75-cents, and daily patrons could purchase commuter tickets by the book."
"The interurban's heyday lasted from 1913 until 1923; during those years net earnings rose annually from $198,000 to $455,877. But profits were offset by much litigation. On October, 24, 1917, the Missouri Supreme Court forced the K.C., C.C. and St. J. to pay $250,000 in damages to the Interstate Railway Company for ursurping its Kansas City to St. Joseph right-of-way. And occasional mishaps were inherent to the system's close schedule. The K.C., C.C., and St. J. Railway's safety committee published their statistics for the year 1915 on greeting cards, and distributed them to customers after New Year's 1916. "Although the electric line carried over a million passengers during the year," read the analysis, "only nine were injured;" a remarkable figure, considering 13 separate collisions with livestock had occurred as well as 23 automobile and other accidents. While the line had averaged a collision every 10 days, the card closed with a surprising attribute, giving "trainmen and friends along the line credit for this good showing."
Earlier in the year I filled you in on some federal grants applications for trail improvements. I wanted to let you know that a great deal of them were successful and the trail system will be expanding over the next 4 years.
There is a group called the Platte County Parks Partners which is a group of Park Board, elected, and administrative officials from Parkville, KCMO, Riverside, and the County that meet every so often. Below is a map created for that group showing the existing and future system for Northland.
The key thing to note is that the spine of the system continues to grow along 152. The vision for this system is to be a recreational trail system but also a bicycle commuting system to connect all residents within a mile of a trail system that connects to employment centers along the I-29/Barry Road corridors, Briarcliff, KCI, and eventually downtown.
For those of you that may be thinking to yourself why are we spending money on "fou-fou" trails you need to keep this in mind. The federal government has a massive FHWA/FTA bureaucracy. That massive bureaucracy has created a massive federal highway bill. That massive federal highway bill has a gazillion special interest groups that have lobbied for certain things. One of the categories that is set aside is a program called the "Transportation Alternatives Program" which only funds projects that expand the transportation network for people who aren't in cars.
If the cities in Platte County didn't apply for these funds....they'd be spent.....are you sitting down..........................................south of the River!
Here is the map specifically for Platte County.
Applying and getting grant money is the easy part. Now some poor lackey has to go through a bunch of inane processes and get the jobs done. Building a trail using federal funds is like pregnancy. The nine months (or usually 2.5 years) of puking, fatigue, weight gain, emotions, etc is all forgotten once you hold the baby for the first time.
Thank you all again for comments or letters of support and please let your electeds know how much you appreciate what's been done to date. I would also let the folks at MoDOT know how much you appreciate all of these connected trails. A lot of them wouldn't be possible without their cooperation and permission to use their right of way. You can let them know here or via Twitter.
Wow that was fast. Back on July 14th, I wrote about the connection of the Line Creek Trail to the Linear (Interurban) Trail in Riverside. I rode down that way tonight with the oldest two and the youngest two in the trailer behind and the new section of trail was fully paved. We were able to ride all the way down to the Hog Jaw Fritz BBQ place on Gateway in Vivion.
If we would have continued on the sidewalk for 2 blocks we would have made it all the way to Briarcliff (map of how to do that here).
Here is the way to get to it. Basically ride on the side trail along Vivion in front of Mad Mike's Fireworks and then go south on Klamm Road to the start of the trail.
Here is the end of Klamm and the start of the trail.
This is looking east where the trail turns from south to east.
This is looking east at the halfway point.
This looking west where the trail connects into the Linear Trail which is built on the old KC to St. Joe Interurban rail bed.
This adds another 3/4 mile south of Vivion Road that one can ride on without having to go on street. Of course you can always ride on Vivion to the west over to the "green park" and make it down to the Missouri River via the rest of the Line Creek Trail.
As we all know, Riverside Missouri gets trails. Now they are working on finishing a key gap in the system that will almost fully connect the Briarcliff Village area to Route 152. It was just a little over 2 years ago that I blogged about how to get from Vivion Road to Briarcliff and that was after riding on road on Waukomis for 1+ miles.
Now Riverside is constructing the connection from the Line Creek Trail to the Linear Trail which uses the old Kansas City to St. Jospeh Interurban Railroad corridor. I used that high tech drafting program MS Paint (which I first used in 1989...) to highlight the general location of the connection.
The Line Creek Trail is shown in green at the top of the aerial and also over on the left side. Riverside needs to/is doing some planning and design to figure out how to connect and finish the gap. Until it is finished, just ride on Vivion Road between the Sonic™ and QuikTrip™ (blue lines)to get to the lower portion of the Line Creek Trail and the Missouri River.
The Linear Trail on the old Interurban Railroad is shown in green at the bottom. The connection between the two is is shown in the dashed purple. I think it would be technically named the Vivion Road Trail since that trail would start at Line Creek and go east.
I'm not sure what the schedule is but it is short and should be done fairly quickly. Here is the construction at the end of Klamm Drive.
In order to get to it from the Line Creek Trail just loop around and cross the bridge and head towards the street (Klamm Drive) right next to Mad Mike's Fireworks and go south 200 or so feet.
What is amazing is how much has been built in just 2 years. There is a lot of green on this Northland trail map that wasn't there in 2012 and there are a lot of people to thank for that but Riverside needs to be thanked again for thinking and acting regional. Without their efforts we wouldn't have such a connected bikeway/trail system in Platte County.
Read more about Riverside's trail system from their official website here.
There is a cold front coming in this upcoming week. If you were wondering how long the newest segment of the Line Creek Trail is from Barry Road south to Platte Brooke Drive, it's about 1.5 miles. As you can see below the grade isn't bad at all.
The distance from NW 68th Street to Platte Brooke Drive is 1 mile. If you're adventurous and just want to get away this week, that's a nice 2.5 mile (5 miles round trip) one way walk on one of the prettiest stretches of trail in the metro.
The red line below is the newest stretch of the trail that is 1.5 miles +/-.
My tracking software said it was over 19.5 miles including the distance from my house to the trail. It you ride the trail from Vivion to Old Tiffany Springs Road, here is what it looks like and what the profile of the trail looks like. I recommend starting downstream and parking at the Mid-Continent Public Library or the Vivion West shopping center and going uphill.
The trip back down the trail near Barry Road is pretty quick due to the steady downstream slope and actually pretty fun.
There are multiple events around the metro and you can find one close to you from the Mid-America Regional Council website here. We are having two National Trails Day events in Platte County this Saturday.
Most of you in the valley should have gotten a post card today with the invite to the National Trails Day dedication for the Route 152 and Upper Line Creek Trails. You hopefully have seen my "thank you" post but if you have a chance, try to get out to one of the events and thank the electeds who have been willing to fund these projects and staff who worked to get them done. In case your postcard didn't make it or you live outside the mailing area, here is a version of the map that was included on the back side of the post card.
As you look at the map, just remember that just 5 years ago all we had was the trail in English Landing Park and the side-trails along Route 45 from I-29 to Route 9. A lot of people have put a lot of work into leveraging funds and making this all happen. The best way to give thanks is to get out and use them.
In case you were wondering how the rest of the Missouri Route 152 Trail comes together, here are maps from the recent federal grant applications. You can leave a comment for each respective project here:
Here's the whole corridor. In case you wondering why it is split up, the grants are capped at $500,000 a piece and so projects need to be structured in phases to maximize the grant and minimize the local matching funds necessary to build the project. These funds provide a maximum of 80% federal funding with a minimum 20% local funding commitment. Once the trail gets to Tiffany Springs Park, the ultimate goal is to continue it north via local roads and abandonded outer roads to the Prairie Creek Greenway Trail system and Platte City.
Here's Tiffany Springs Park to Childress in detail below.
Here's Childress to Amity in detail below.
Here's Amity to Congress in detail below. The development plan shown is the master plan for the Riverstone development.
Here's the route from Platte Purchase to US 169 in detail below. A master plan for Barry Towne is shown for informational purposes only to show how the trail integrates with the development.
Here's the crossing of US 169 and the connection from Metro North Mall to North Oak.
Lastly, here's the trail from Oak to Maplewoods Parkway. This connects to the Shoal Creek trail and Happy Rock Park via the sidewalks along Maplewoods Parkway.
Feel free to leave comments using the links at the top of the post.
A while back I had a chance to try out the recently completed Turkey Creek Trail between Antioch and Metcalf. I had heard about this project from a consultant years ago and thought it was a crazy idea given the appearance of the topography of the area as viewed from a car on I-35 at 65mph.
Turns out I was wrong (shaddup it happens). There was an already graded roadbed on the creek bluff and when I was on the trail, I didn't feel like I was right next to a freeway with 100,000+ cars per day.
I uploaded some other pictures to Panoramio.com here. This shot below is near the start near Metcalf. These pictures were taken in November after all the leaves had fallen but the invasive honeysuckles still had leaves.
Ever wonder why I-35 has to be shut down when it rains a lot? I did and now I wonder no more. Now I wonder how long shale can hold up the interstate. I also wonder why KDOT and the Army Corps of Engineers can't get together and use all the green space in the median and along the highway to do an off-line storm water detention basin which will help both parties with flood control along Turkey Creek. I don't see that happening as that requires two different disciplines of engineers to work together for a solution that benefits the public as a whole......
Below is a shot of the old roadbed and how pretty it is even though it's right next to I-35.
At the end near Antioch, whoever built the trail had to use a "soldier pile" retaining wall.
What is a soldier pile retaining wall? It's a wall that is an earth "picket fence." In this case, steel H-beams were driven into the ground to provide the anchor for the wall. They would be similar to the posts in a wood picket fence. The "posts" stick out of the ground and use the ground to resist the force behind the wall. Another analogy would be the posts are similar to tent pegs. Tent pegs are driven into the ground and use the ground to keep the tension from the tent strings from pulling away.
In between the posts, any type of wall can be used. In this case, concrete slabs were inserted in between the H-beams. In some places you will see railroad ties. A lot of sound walls in the metro are soldier pile walls that don't hold earth.
Here's an illustration from national firm Hayward Baker of how they are built.
The "Retaining Wall Expert" explains how a soldier pile wall works with tie-backs like a soil nail retaining wall.
You don't need to understand how the trail works, you just need to find a way to enjoy it. I parked along the street near the apartments at the SWC of Metcalf and I-35 to walk this. It's a nice getaway for a short stroll if you need one.
It's been nice having a week of dry weather. The Route 152 Trail is starting to look like a trail west of Green Hills.
This is what the trail looks like towards the west from the mid-way point between Green Hills and Ambassador.
This is looking east from the same point. One nice thing about this trail project is even though it is along Route 152, we were able to save some nice shingle oaks and other trees that grew along the highway fence. Now that the trail is in place, they won't be torn down to grade out for a parking lot or structures and will provide some shade for users.
Blow is the view west from the backside of North Heartland Community Church's facility. I don't know if I've mentioned it before but the Church has been great to work with, donated all the easments necessary for the trail, and sees it as an amenity to their facility. I also want to plug their Easter Eggstravaganza this Saturday the 12th. Check out the website for the details. It's a fun event.
Here is fresh concrete looking east from the church parking lot looking towards the Green Hills Road interchange. The trail goes over the top of a dam for storm water retention for the development north of 152.
Concrete trail pavement is formed up using plastic forms like the ones shown or wood. The trail is six inches of concrete placed on four or six inches of rock base. The thickness of the rock is determined based on soil characteristics and drainage. Since concrete expands in 100+ degree summers and shrinks in 0 degree winters, a half inch fiber or polymer strip is placed every 150 feet or so. This expansion/contraction joint allows the pavement to grow/shrink without buckling up. The fiber/polymer strip absorbs the expansion and allows the shrinkage.
Between those expansion joints and every 10 feet, a joint is sawed using the concrete saw contraption shown below. The saw cuts a less than inch groove in the pavement. That groove then allows the concrete to crack at that saw cut rather than in random patterns.
Since concrete has rock in it, the friction between the rock holds the concrete in place even with the cut/crack. That friction keeps the trail from settling and creating bumps. It only works on thicker concrete slabs.
The sidewalk in front of your house is only 4 inches on dirt which isn't heavy enough and doesn't have enough friction to keep it level. In older neighborhoods, that creates the uneven surface which is annoying when you are pushing a sleeping baby in a stroller.
I don't know if I was able to explain that so just remember that there is a whole industry and numerous universities that have studied all of this and determined this is the best way concrete pavements should be constructed.
I've been a little quiet lately because I was working on 30 federal grants to try to get more trails in the pipeline for 2014/2015/2016/2017/2018 and also "complete streets" projects so people can get around by bike/sidewalk or to transit services without using a car.
I just hope they all score well because spending limited federal dollars on stuff that will last 50+ years is a lot smarter than spending money on equipment that lasts 10+/- years or one mega project that sucks up all the money for one long recreational trail and doesn't serve the poor, disabled, kids trying to safely get to school, or make travel safer for everyone.
Anyways, here is a trail map of Northland trails that you can bike that I know about. Some of them are side-paths along 4 lane roads. The Route 152 Trail and the Line Creek Trail are still under construction but for grant purposes, I showed them as complete.
The title is MetroGreen. Back in the early 1990's, the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) led an effort with all the cities in the bi-state region to come up with a regional greenway/trail system. More can be read here.
The map below shows the projects KCMO applied for. These projects were chosen based on the likelihood that they would score well enough to be selected and the City Council would provide the required matching funds.
It's key to point out that these funds are for transportation alternatives (TAP) as outlined in the federal transportation bill. They set aside a portion of funds for this and I would rather have the money spent here than building some gerbil/circle trail in some park in Harrisonville or Grain Valley (which are considered "urban"). We won't know until August/September how it all turns out.
You can also find bike/trail maps from the MARC website here.
I don't have the whole story but bits and pieces so if anything is not right, send me a note so I get the right history recorded. Back in the 1950's, someone had the idea that the recently annexed southern Clay County portion of KCMO needed to preserve a greenway and parkway system. This was accomplished by a property or sales tax assessment and most everything in green in the map below was acquired.
A greenway was acquired about a half mile north of Vivion Road which was supposed to be the Big Shoal (?) Parkway which would have extended Englewood Road over to the future Searcy Creek Parkway near Maple Park Middle School. Fortunately, the greenway was acquired and folks decided there really didn't need to be a four lane road (or any road) built so the area remains as it was pre-development.
I had the fortune of walking it last week to explore the opportunity for a developed trail along the creek. We were doing this to develop a federal grant application to try and get some federal funds to construct a segment of it.
I uploaded some pictures of the greenway at panoramio.com here but here are a couple of samples of this awesome linear park.
I've also heard of this area being called the Mill Creek greenway because there used to be a mill in the area. I didn't see anything that looked like remains of a mill but didn't do any research beforehand to know where/what to be looking for.
If you want to check this area out, the best place to access this area is off of North Indiana at the baseball field parking lot. You can also park along the side streets of North Brighton and walk accross the new bridge and head west. You can also check out the new KC Parks mapper here for other corridors to explore (while wearing orange) throughout the whole city.