The Line Creek Loudmouth

Ice Day Dreaming of More Trails

As much as I like to one hand type while holding a sleeping 17 month old (ignore typos, my left arm is falling asleep), I'd rather be out on a cold bike ride now.  The ice has me home-bound and day dreaming about spring and more trails to ride.

By this time next year, I won't have to daydream as we will have more trails under construction in Platte County.  KCMO has almost $1.5M of federal transportation alternative funds to expand the system in 2014/2015. 

The Route 152 Trail system will expand eastward towards Clay County and a gap will be shortened near Zona Rosa.  These projects will all be bid together once easements and state/federal approvals are done.

The east 152 Trail project will follow the south side of the highway and connect Line Creek Parkway and Platte Purchase.  The trail will also connect the YMCA Challenger Field playgrounds which will be a nice break for those of you hauling kiddies while biking.  Below is a screen shot from the grant application showing general alignment (red line).

The west 152 Trail project will start to close the gap in the trail from I-29 to Congress.  The gap won't totally be finished until a new bridge is built over I-29.    Below is a screen shot from the grant application showing general alignment of the trail (light blue) and future bridge general area.

The last project will connect the 152 Trail to the office employment complexes along I-29. 

Riverside Gets Trails

When I first started working on the Line Creek Trail with others, some folks shared concerns that the trail would get done but Riverside would drop the ball.  Those concerns were way off the mark.  Riverside gets it.  Mayor Rose and the Board of Aldermen totally see the value of trails and without that support, we'd have serious gaps in the Platte County trail system.

Riverside has invested their casino revenues into improving their streets with curbs and sidewalks, infrastructure for industrial development, and amenities to attract new residents and families to the area.  It's dramatically different then a neighboring casino town which is having financial issues.  Riverside's wise investments plus one of the best school districts in the state and being located in the middle of the metro area with water and rail access make it a great place to live and do business.  

I would like to point out that the smart move to use casino revenue to fund industrial development helps everyone in the Park Hill School District.  Industrial development dramaticaly expands the property tax base of the district without directly adding any new students which lessens the tax burden on all residents.  Also, if the casino goes away, they have a stable tax base with which to provide basic municipal services.  I had to get the above props in because I truly do appreciate what Riverside is doing to make Platte County better.

Now, on to the topic at hand.  Even though it has been bitterly cold, Riverside is moving forward on connecting the Line Creek Trail to the south side of Vivion Road.

The trail right now stops at the parking lot for Homestead Park.  It is graded and ready for concrete.  In the pictures below, you will notice the black tarp blankets.  These are thermal blankets used in concrete construction.  Usually you will see the blankets placed on top of fresh concrete in colder weather.  As concrete hardens, it warms.  In order for the concrete to harden properly, it needs to stay warm and finish the chemical reactions.  If new concrete is exposed to cold weather, the heat escapes too fast and the concrete isn't as strong as it should be and has a high liklihood of cracking.  The blankets keep the concrete warm and the cold out.

In the pictures below, the contractor placed the blankets on the ground before he is pouring the concrete.  In order to pour concrete, the ground cannot be frozen.  By putting the blankets on the ground, the ground stays warm allowing the contractor to pour concrete as soon as he can rather than waiting for the ground to warm up.

I tried showing the general alignment of the new pavement being constructed below.  I know the graphic stinks so don't mock me.  I spent under a minute making it.

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This picture is from the playground looking east at the end of the Line Creek Trail today.

This picture is looking southwest from the same spot.

This picture is from Homestead Drive looking east.  For about 200 feet, trail users will need to use the street.  The dead end street needs to remain in place to serve one property owner.

This is from the end of Homestead Drive looking south at Vivion Road Bridge.  The trail will connect to the south side of Vivion Road by going under the new bridge.  When the bridge was built, the under crossing was put in but not connected.

I will be happy to see this connection in even though it is short.  Since there is a gap in the trail from Homestead Park to Renner Brenner Park, I have to bike on Vivion Road.  Vivion transitions from a five lane road to a three lane road, there are some lane drops in front of Sonic™ that are hard to navigate when biking north and trying to get on the trail.  I always slow down to let people pass but sometimes people are actually nice and slow down which makes the left turn more difficult (can't explain, if you've done the turn, you understand-wrote about it here).

This trail connection will allow me to stay on the south lane of Vivion and then use a curb ramp to get on the trail rather than crossing four lanes of traffic with weird lane drops/transitions.

Going under major arterials with trails seems like a no-brainer but believe it or not, there are some very short-sighted and clueless engineers out there.  It is amazing how often it is a battle to get a trail/pedestrian underpass included in a bridge project but I am glad Riverside had people wise enough to include the underpass with the bridge construction.

I also am glad and thankful that they have folks that support making these very key trail connections for Platte County residents.

Line Creek Is Worth Driving to Try

We now have almost a 6.5 mile one-way ride on the Line Creek Trail.  Days like Saturday and yesterday are great days to try the trail.  As the weather gets colder, I tend to ride only on the days that the wind is out of the south.  Why?  Biking southward is right into the wind.  It's also downhill.  The uphill return trip to the north is easier with the wind helping you.

For those of you who have to load up the bike to get to the trail, I recommend parking and starting at E. H. Young Riverfront Park in Riverside near the casino.  The trail starts at the entrance to the casino and goes along the street to the north.  The trail is in red on the aerial below.

Follow the trail all the way to the skate park in Renner Brenner Park.  At that point, you will have to ride either on Vivion Road or along the sidewalk to the Vivion Road bridge over Line Creek.  At that point, you will have to get to the north side of the street by the Mid-Continent Public Library and ride through the grass to get to Homestead Road.  Once you get to Homestead Park, head to the east past the playgrounds and basketball court where the concrete trail begins.

Clear as mud?  I tried showing that on the aerial below.  It's hard to follow all that above.

Here is what it looks like on the ground.  Don't cross the bridge.  Head to the north over the grass.

Riverside had vision and put the trail under the bridge when it was under construction last summer.  They plan on connecting to the north and to the south sidewalk in 2014 so one going north can go under the bridge rather than trying to cross four lanes of traffic with weird lane drops on Vivion Road.

Here's a zoomed in shot how to get around it.  It is hard to ride back on Sunday afternoons right before dinner.  The awesome down home cooking at the Corner Cafe™ is very enticing right before after 10+ miles.

So if you have to load up the bikes, try doing the whole trail.

Line Creek Trail is Almost Half Mile Longer

The Line Creek Trail keeps getting longer.  Over the past couple of weeks, almost another half mile of concrete trail was poured. This means that around 4.5 miles of the trail are paved between Vivion and Barry Roads.  The new portion is shown below with the vertical profile of the trail.

The Trail isn't open for use as the sides of the trail haven't been back-filled.  I took some pictures as a preview.  The one below is at the north end of the concrete where the trail veers away from the old Interurban rail bed.  The trail goes to the left and the old railroad is on the left.

Looking southeast towards the new pavement which is on the right side of the picture.

This is looking south where the trail is on top of the Interurban and Line Creek is on the right.

Looking northwest at mid-point of new pavement.  Note the size of the trees and topography.

This is looking north at the south end of the Interurban section.  Line Creek is 20+/- feet below on the left.

This is looking southwest where the trail transitions from the Interurban down to the existing trail at the end of Platte Brooke Drive.

I love how this thing lays out with the topography and views of the valley.  Unfortunately, I think it has reached the time of the year where it becomes too wet and cold for the ground to dry out to allow rock and concrete trucks to pave any more trail. 

Getting supplies and equipment to this project is hard enough to do when the weather cooperates.  The ground doesn't really dry out because all of the monster trees keep the sun away from the ground.

Maybe we will get lucky and have a long dry spell and more can be done before the end of the year.  Last winter was an unproductive winter and I am guessing this one will be the same.

Upper Line Creek Trail at Barry Road

Following up on my Upper Line Creek Trail post the other day, I got the opportunity to speak to The Meadows Home's Association the other night and handed out a map that better showed how the Line Creek Trail was going to go under Barry Road.  I uploaded it below since it is a lot clearer than the one I posted.

Construction Along Barry Road at Line Creek Parkway

If you are driving along Barry Road near Line Creek Parkway you might want to slow down for a couple of reasons.  First, KCMO PD runs a pretty lucrative speed trap hiding at Allenton Drive in the Meadows subdivision.  Second, someone built a parkway without a left turn lane for Barry Road and it's hard to see when approaching due to the hills.  Third, construction for the Line Creek Trail is digging a big hole right next to the road. 

Why? 

When Barry Road was widened and improved in the late 1980's, the street was built one side at a time (I speculate based on old plans I have come across).  At Line Creek Parkway, the north half of the road was built first and a temporary bypass to the south to avoid detouring.  The south side of the road was built a year or two later.  This was done due to funding constraints I assume. 

Underneath Barry Road, a double cell reinforced concrete box culvert was constructed in two phases.  This culvert is shown below.  The left/west cell is going to have a new floor installed and be painted white so that the Line Creek Trail can go underneath Barry Road.  The new floor will make the trail surface smooth and the white paint will reflect light making it lighter than it is today.  The contractor has started power washing and preparing the surface.

While that seems easy enough, someone designing the project had a great idea to connect the storm pipes and inlets directly into the concrete box culverts.  The storm water for the south side of Barry drains into that left/west cell shown with a 24" concrete pipe that pokes through the left side and sticks out into the culvert.  If you squint hard enough in the picture above, one can see someone sawing the pipe and the metal sparks.

In order to use the culvert as an underpass, modifications need to be done to the system so that the 24" pipe doesn't dump water on the trail and instead drains to the south.  The design of the drainage system makes the storm inlets at this point extremely tall (20-25').  The contractor has to dig down to the low point on the inlet where the storm pipe enters.  He will then drill a hole in the storm inlet so that a new outlet pipe can be installed.  After that storm pipe is installed, the inlet has to be filled with concrete to the elevation of the new pipe so water drains.  That all seems simple but there is a set of major telecommunications lines and a waterline in the way.  This shot below is standing on the inlet looking to the south.  As you can see, the trench is deep enough to hide a decent sized excavator.  Note the telecom lines hanging in air that the operator has to work around.

I will try and describe how a user can expect to use the tunnel.  The screen shot below from MapMyRide™ account is a weak attempt at showing it graphically. 

The trail will follow along the east bank of Line Creek which is about 10-15' higher than the stream.  The trail will curve westerly around the Little Shack on Barry Road, go over the top of the culvert, wind around southerly and descend to enter the tunnel.  That's why there is the red loop on the aerial below.

The cost and headache of going under Barry Road is way cheaper than a traffic signal at Line Creek Parkway.  Also, it is a million times safer as one doesn't have to cross Barry Road with its 55+ mph travel speeds.  Those of you with kids on the trail know how stressful it is to cross traffic at 68th Street.

It also provides users with another underpass of a major street.  When fully complete, one will be able to go from the casino in Riverside to the north side of Barry Road without having to interact with cars and cross a street. 

I know that a lot of you are using the graded trail now but be careful around any fencing or any areas where you cannot see what is happening.  The best thing to do is wait a few months and let the job get done for safe usage.

Sunday 5/10k on the Line Creek Trail

Since the Line Creek Train is closed, you'll have to find something else to do on Sunday afternoon.  Check out the first official event on the Line Creek Trail.

The Clay-Platte Trackers are putting on an event.  I cut and paste this straight from their website.

What is a volkswalk?

A volkswalk or volksmarch is a leisurely walk 5 or 10 kilometer (3.1 or 6.2 miles) through a scenic, historic or interesting area, over a predetermined route. The walk is noncompetitive and the participants can walk at their own pace, making it an excellent recreational activity for the entire family.  You never know what beautiful sight awaits you when participating in an American Volkssport Association (AVA) event.

 Event details from KC Parks here.

Checked Out All Your Web Feeds for the Day?

Take the Bike KC Survey and get your input on the KCMO bike system.

Survey is here.  Take it online or some telemarketer might call you...

 

Clip credit to Mike Judge and Viacom™.

152 Trail Construction Begins

In case you are out and about wondering to yourself: What is the construction along Route 152 by the Green Hills Road interchange?

Clearing has begun on the Route 152 Trail started at the southeast corner of the interchange.  These pictures were all taken on the south side of the Route 152 eastbound on-ramp.  The first one is about 200' east of Green Hills and looking towards the west.  The great thing about the majority of the trail east of Green Hills is that even though the trail is next to a freeway, one really can't see the freeway.

This picture is looking east from about 200 feet east of Green Hills.

This picture is looking west from about 700-800 feet east of Green Hills.  Despite the fact that the Route 152 sits at the top of the watersheds between Line Creek and Second Creek, the trail grades are not as steep as one would think.  Will it be an easy leisurely ride?  No but it won't be impossible for the average cyclist.

I was amazed that this old Walnut tree had survived both the highway construction and the KCPL power line trimmers over the years.

The contractor has a lot of pink paint markings within the interchange.  As part of this project, the stop lights will be upgraded to be fully ADA compliant and have crossings for the trail and other pedestrians who want to cross from one side of Green Hills to the other.

Final KCMO Line Creek Trail Gap Out to Bid

How many of you use the Line Creek Trail and get to the north end, see this view, and go "when the heck is this going to go up to Barry Road?"  Thanks to easements donated by Barth Real Estate and an ownership group controlled ny MD Management, this gap is going to be gone real soon.

The final gap in the Line Creek Trail is out to bid.  I don't know if I ever had a project where I can't wait to start tearing stuff up and start fixing it.  This segment of trail is going to be one of the top two segments of trail within Kansas City.  Starting at the end of the concrete, the trail will curve to the right and then back to the left right along the banks of Line Creek.  The trail will transition from the low floodplain area to the high bank.  This picture is about 500 feet due northeast of the trail end and is looking to the southwest at the trail corridor.

The trail runs on about 1800 feet of the old Kansas City to St. Joe Interurban Railroad railbed. This is looking south about a quarter mile north of the trail end.

As you can see in the pictures, the biggest threat facing the valley right now is very ambitious beavers.  After the trail is built we will have to wait and see if the native Missouri Redneck still inhabits the area and will remove these anti-tree varmints.

It then winds around the banks of the former Drennon Lake till it gets to the old house south of Barry Road and Line Creek Parkway. The picture below is the view of the trail as it moves away from the old Interurban and moves to the East.  Note the topography through the trees and how Ozark it appears.

This view is southwest along the south side of old Drennon Lake.

This shot was taken from the convergence of the north and west sides of Drennon Lake and looking north.  Again note the relief.

This picture is the dam for the upper siltation basin.  The folks who built Drennon Lake were smart enough to realize that if they were going to get people to pay to swim, camp, and fish in their lake that they needed to make sure the water was clean and silt-free so they built a lake upstream that would fill in and the cleaner water would enter the lake (ahem novel idea Weatherby Lake).  I don't think you can make it out but at the far end of the dam in the picture is an abandoned upside down BMW.  The first time I went out there, I called KCPD and they went out and looked at it and reported that the car had been stolen for some years, they knew about its location, and no one ever wanted to come get it and tow it away.

This is the overview looking south at the silt basin and will be the first good glimpse for trail users of the awesomeness of the area.  This is only about 500-800' south of Barry Road.

The trail will go underneath an existing reinforced concrete box culvert and connect to the sidepath along the west side of Line Creek Parkway (which will soon connect to the Route 152 Trail).

Here is the map of the Line Creek Trail final KCMO project that is out to bid. 

I have some more pictures uploaded to Panoramio in case you want to browse.

 

 

Line Creek Trail Extension In Riverside Almost Done

Unless you are looking for it, it's hard to find.  Did you know that the City of Riverside is about done with a 1.3 mile extension of the Line Creek Trail?  The project starts at the Argosy Casino™ and ends at Renner Brenner Park.  The trail is a side path starting at Argosy Casino Parkway and goes up and over the railroad tracks.  This picture is looking north at the start of the trail.

No driveways or side streets intersect the trail so it is a safe side path for cyclists to use to get around the railroad.  This is the view of the trail looking south from the south Route 9 outer road.

The trail uses a "Z-ramp" to get from the top of the Route 9 outer road bridge to the bottom.  A Z-ramp gets its name from the view from above (it looks like a Z...).  They are common along levees because they provide access over and down a levee.  Since the ramps are parallel to the flow of the river/stream, they do not impede water flow and are less likely to erode.

The trail has plenty of clearance underneath the Route 9 bridges.  This is looking south from the north side of Route 9.

The trail continues along the bench within the levee system.  What is amazing about this stretch is even though one is in the middle of the City, there really is no noise.  It really feels rural and quiet.  This is the trail from above looking north at Route 9.

The trail goes under the newer West Platte/Cliffview Drive bridge.

The trail continues north from the bridge and ties into the skateboard/bmx complex at Renner Brenner.

Here is the trail overlaid on an aerial.

 

Route 152 Trail Construction Ordinance Approved Today

Things have been on a roll lately.  About time for some jealous negative ninny with insecurity issues and too much time on their hands to try and pee on the proverbial parade.  But until then, progress continues and will continue to do so spite of the unmotivated or saboteurs.

The Kansas City Council approved the construction contract for the Route 152 Trail between Ambassador and Line Creek Parkway today.  Peruse the ordinance for the details.  Dirt should be flying in September.

Bottom line: this would not have happened without the support of the Councilmen for the 2nd District, their PIAC representatives Nelsie Sweeney and Chris Byrd, and the KCI Corridor TIF. 

These parties and others realize the importance investments in improved streets with sidewalks, trails, and parks in keeping property values up, attracting new residents and businesses, and creating community.  I am just blessed to be able to work with such a talented group of people who invest their time into bettering Platte County and should thank them more often.

 

Clip credit to Mercury Records and Kool and the Gang.

Line Creek Trail Extension In Riverside Underway

After over a year of being screwed around by one of our local Northland real estate and property management companies, Riverside finally secured the easements necessary to finish the Line Creek Trail down to Vivion Road.  Clearing started yesterday.  The trail will continue south from I-29 and stay on the west side of the creek and wind up down at Homestead Park by the Sonic™ and the new Vivion Road Bridge.

This is where the trail will be located about 500-700' south of I-29 and looking north.

The trail opens up about 1000' or so south of I-29 behind the cemetary along Gateway Drive.  This picture is looking south.

The forest gets a little out of control with invasive honeysuckle and vines south of Mandan Drive but is right along the creek.  At this point when we were verifying the survey stakes, it was hot, humid, and the mosquitos were the size of quarters so I didn't think to take many pictures as we were scurrying along.

I took the day off yesterday and was with all the kids so I didn't get a chance to get any construction pictures but hopefully will this weekend.

When this segment is done, the Line Creek Trail will be around 4.5 miles total from Vivion Road to Platte Brooke Drive.

 

Bike Commuting in Platte County Getting Easier (Unless going downtown)

With all of the investments in bike friendly trails by KCMO, Platte County, and Riverside which eliminate or reduce vehicle conflicts and waiting at signals or stop signs, it's becoming easier to safely commute downtown or to employment centers via bicycle.  I wanted to try and see what routes I could take and how long it would if I ever decided to do so.  I work down in the Northeast Industrial District and had two ways to get there that I thought I would try.  Unfortunately I wasn't thinking and took the flatter and easier route through Riverside and Briarcliff on the way there and was gassed on the way back when I had a hillier route along Chouteau/Parvin/Vivion. 

Things are relatively easy until one enters Clay County and gets to the railroad service bridge over Route 9 on the way into North Kansas City.  There is a nice 8-10' shoulder along Route 9 but at this bridge, that shoulder disappears.  For a cyclist, that often means stopping right before the bridge and waiting for a gap and then trying to gun up to 25mph to avoid cars that are going 65+mph (no enforcement whatsoever here).

 

The south route has somewhat limited stop distance and with cars having just completed a high speed merge, this movement is downright impossible except on a weekend.  Luckily when I took that picture the car saw me, had no one next to them, and moved over.  The northbound commute is a little better since there is better sight distance and a stop light at 32nd Street which meters Route 9 traffic to allow some semblance of a safe gap to enter the road.

I went around Macken Park (bad idea at 4PM on Father's Day as everyone was BBQing) and through NKC neighborhoods and my biggest issue was all the 4 way stops at every single block.  I wound up at the 35/210 interchange where I went on the sidewalk and around the Arby's™, McDonalds™, and Donut King™. 

I hopped the median on 210 to get to the south side past Sutherland's™ and had a stretch where I was able to ride in the merge lane from the RR yars until I hit a curb section but a gravel road right next to the highway.  Luckily since it was Sunday, there was little traffic on 210 so I took the travel lane.  During business days, this 3 lane section of EB 210 slims to 2 lanes and a lot of drivers use the outside lane to speed up and pass the cars or trucks in the interior lanes.  The stoplight at the entrance to North Kansas City Hospital posed my next big obstacle.  Someone decided to put a curb section in with a slotted drain which is not bike friendly at all.  Adding the guardrail along the top of curb left really no safe place to get through this area and if I ever did this during businss days, I would probably just walk the bike on the grass on the other side of the guardrail or take my chances using the RR tracks since I can see and hear a train coming a lot easier than a car at 65+mph trying to beat the last stop light.

There are some major employment centers in this area with Cerner™ and the hospital.  It would be nice if North Kansas City would figure out a way to put a trail along the toe levee installed to keep water from draining into NKC so that the folks that work at Cerner, the Hospital, or other businesses could access Macken Park.  During lunch, I often see employees jogging along the cowpath in this area.  Imagine how Cerner™ or the Hospital could attract more talent by having a facility that their employees could use to either commute or walk to Macken Park for lunch.

I made it to 210 and Chouteau where I went up Chouteau and back over to Parvin Road.  Parvin has shoulders but they have disintegrated into gravel which doesn't work well with road bike tires.

I did fine except for having to take a couple of breaks since it was hilly and I was spent at that point.  I used the Vivion Road Trail for the first time which I can safely say I will never ride a bike on again as it is too windy and hilly and there are too many cross streets which interesct the trail at the low points making it hard to get a consistent speed and ride.  I made it to North Oak and Vivion.  Vivion has a nice shoulder except for right at the intersection where the curb was installed on the NWC.

 

From that point, it was smooth sailing on the Vivion Road shoulders except having to wait to cross the NB I-29 on-ramp.  The hill down into Riverside is a smooth ride and there are bicycle friendly grates until Vivion narrows down to one lane under US 169 where a non-bike friendly grate almost was the end of me.

I encourage anyone who walks or rides along MoDOT's system to take some time and go to the Missouri Bicycle Federation's website and let them know what bike/pedestrian barriers you face.  The only way these choke points will ever get fixed is if you as taxpayers request them.  Most of these fixes are simple and minor projects.  MoDOT is getting better at doing smaller projects and using some more common sense in delivering improvements.  With the morons in DC threatening to enter into another Middle Eastern country which will further de-stabilize oil prices, biking may be the only afforadable way to get to work in a few years.

Submit your project by clicking the link here:

What are YOUR top bike/ped transportation needs? Submit them here, and MoDOT will add them to its statewide plan. Deadline 10am July 1st.

National Trails Day Event in Platte County Tomorrow

Tomorrow is National Trails Day.  After you stop buy and buy some of my stuff, come down to Line Creek Park and thank some of the people responsible for making the Line Creek Trail happen.  Ride the train.  Enjoy a morning outside before heading to the Fiesta Italiana event at Zona Rosa.  Maybe someone will even re-tell the story about how the Line Creek Trail was conceived.

 

Shoal Creek Trail Bridge Installed Today

Weather permitting, the Shoal Creek Trail Bridge over Shoal Creek behind MaplewoodsCommunity College will be installed before lunch today.  This is half of the bridge.  The crane will arrive early, the bridges will be bolted together, and then the bridge placed on top of the concrete abutments all in one morning.

 

Route 152 Trail Out to Bid

I wrote this in 5 minutes so try and follow along.  Guess what?

We are getting more walk/bikeways in Platte County.  By this time next year, one should be able to ride their bike from Chuck E Cheese™ to the Argosy Casino™.

Glen Rice with the Star had a nice write up today on trail work that will start later this summer here in southern Platte County.  Official KCMO news release here.

In case you were wondering where the trail goes, follow the blue lines in the aerial below.  Many thanks to Valley View Bank™, Walker Labrunie and Philip Wolfe, and North Heartland Community Church who donated easements for the project.

Download Route-152-Trail-Map

I have some pictures of the location of the trail west of Green Hills tagged in my Panoramio™ account.  The segment east of Green Hills will not seem like it is next to the highway because there is a large gas main and there is a wide shelf within the right of way that is heavily vegetated and removed from the highway.  I have pictures but can't find the flash drive I put them on so I will have to upload those later (and maybe write something coherent about this job rather than in 5 minutes).

Feel free to check out the bid notice if you really don't have anything to do tonight.

 

7 Years Ago Today

Steve Rhoades and I fired up the GPS machine for a field visit to start the design and layout of the Line Creek Trail.  We trekked the trail starting somewhere in Riverside and made it all way up to Platte Brooke Drive.  We turned around and headed back and encountered this bad boy about a quarter mile north of NW 68th Street on the old Interurban Line. 

We had to throw rocks at it for a while until one got close enough to make it want to move.  It was one of those 60 degree days in April when reptiles come out to soak up the sun.  Steve won the first tick lottery and after that, our field visits were over for a while. 

It's awesome to see after a ride tonight how many people use it to walk, bike, spend family time, or just use it to find some place to throw rocks in the creek. 

When I first started out doing the route from my house to the Briarcliff area, it took me over 2.5 hours.  I've worked myself into the shape that I can do it just around an hour and fifteen minutes which is about all the time I can scrounge up to ride anymore. 

The best times to do this ride are like tonight when the wind is out of the south 25+ mph.  My average speed downhill into the wind was around 12 mph and my average speed uphill with the wind was around 18 mph.  I use the "MapMyRide" app on my phone to track how far and where I go.

I didn't see any snakes tonight which was good.  I still get the heavie geevies every time I see that picture above.

 

Clip credit to Jim Stafford.

 

Hodge Park Off Road Trails

After many years of sitting as an unused asset, Hodge Park is getting some volunteer TLC that will attract people from all over the area to visit Clay County. 

The Kansas City Earth Riders montain bike club is moving forward with plans to provide active free recreation in Hodge Park.  For the record, the golf course in the park does NOT count as active recreation.  

Details on the work day planned for this weekend on April 28 can be found here. You can also follow the news on the Hodge Park Trails Facebook™ page Neal Shour created for it.

Too bad Platte County doesn't have a gorgeous nature area to do the same (or do we???).

Shoal Creek Trail Progress

Believe it or not, there was actually a couple of dry days in a row this year.  Work is slowly progressing on the Shoal Creek Trail south of Barry Road.  Anyone driving along Barry Road by Maplewoods Community College can see the construction of a tributary stream crossing and the clearing of all the invasive honeysuckle and thorny locust trees.

The bridge abutments are done and waiting for the bridge to be completed and shipped to the site for installation.  Looking east towards Maple Woods standing on top of the concrete abutment.

Looking west from the top of the west abutment.

The picture below is for scale to give you an idea of how high the bridge is.  The floodplain is one foot below the top of the concrete.  The bridge is designed to be above the 100 year floodplain so that it is protected from any flooding sweeping it away and brush getting clogged underneath it.  It also provides a safe crossing of the creek up to high ground at the college in case someone is out for a ride or walk and the water comes up faster than they expect.

If any of you need some tires or a couch, please feel free to come pick one up.  I've always wondered why someone would take the time to load up a couch and dump it in a park or somewhere hard to get to.  If you're going to illegally dump, be considerate enough to dump where someone else can easily clean up after you.  Don't be a complete a-hole if you illegally dump.......

One could just as easily arrange a bulky item pick up and not have to go to the trouble of loading it up and dumping it on someone else's property to pick up.  Thanks to MEGA Industries for hauling away this loser's couch.

 

 

Trail Conditions Wet

We got a lot of rain. That morning jog or walk in the Line Creek Trail may be short.

Try the Shoal Creek Trail Today

After refereeing 14 games (mostly JV and sophomore boys) in 11 days while fighting a sinus infection, I was planning on parking my rear on the couch all day since my body was about to shut down.  However, I had to drop #1 of at church for AWANA Bible Quiz practice and had some time before I had to pick him up so I went over the Shoal Creek Trail project under construction to see what the contractor was working on today. 

There is something about being outside in the woods on a day like today.  I suddenly got a burst of energy and ended up walking most of the job which totaled about a mile and a half.

If you are looking for something to do before it rains today, put on some old shoes and check out the Shoal Creek Trail under construction. The trail is cleared and all dirt. The easiest way to access it is to get on Route 1 south of 152. Turn west at the traffic signal at 80th/Maplewoods Parkway (link to map) and find somewhere to park along the street.

The pictures don't do justice to the beauty of the valley through there.

Shoal Creek Trail Extension Is Underway

Work started this week on extending the Shoal Creek Trail from Happy Rock Park to Barry Road.

Official notice here.  If you see your KCMO 1st District Council folks anytime soon, be sure to thank them for supporting this project.

Line Creek Trail Access from Ice Rink Closed (Temporarily)

Bad news:  If you walk from Oakwood Forest or Clayton Meadows to the Line Creek Trail, you won't be able to get to the trail without getting wet. 

Official notice here.

Trust me, there's no good place to cross the creek between 64th Street and the River without getting soaked.  Good news:  Things are progressing very rapidly to be done before winter.  The crossing would open faster if the contractor had a pack of dynamite laying around to demolish the existing road crossing but that would damage a couple of sewer lines right next to it although I've seen a few outhouses here and there so some people wouldn't notice at all.

Clip credit to The Dukes of Hazzard television show and Viacom™.

Line Creek Trail Is Paved OUT!

Fair warning-don't load this post on a mobile phone.

The forms came off and the Line Creek Trail is now paved all the way down to I-29!  The dirt contractor is backfilling the sides of the trail and may be half done by the end of the day.

The pipe contractor has all the new culverts necessary to rebuild the creek crossing that connects the trail to the Line Creek Ice Rink parking lot.  They could have started today but with the weather being gorgeous and people needing to burn Thanksgiving calories off, it made sense to wait until then.  The new creek crossing will have more pipes in it to carry more water and also be lower to stop the streambank erosion that washes out the gravel every so often.  The new trail extension from the "T" intersection at the parking lot access road (NW 62nd Street) to I-29 is right at 1 mile. 

How long is the Line Creek Trail?  Total length of the Line Creek Trail is now just under 3.5 Miles.

Here are some assorted pictures taken over time starting just north of NW 62nd Street and going south.