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Kansas City, Mo. — Bike lanes were installed on Truman Road in Kansas City, Missouri three months ago.
In November KSHB envisions 41 bike lanes. It can cause driver confusion, traffic backups and more crashes.
On Friday, the Kansas City, Missouri Department of Public Works acknowledged the issues and said it was trying to make changes.
More than 120 people attended the Gregg Klice Community Center for a community meeting on the issue.
The meeting was requested by Atomic Collision owner Shawn Arcidino and KCMO Councilwoman Melissa Robinson.
They said this is a problem-solving meeting to find a way forward or to get direction on removing bike lanes from Truman Road.
“How many business owners on Truman Road oppose Truman Road bike lanes in a show of hands?” Arcidino asked at the meeting.
At the meeting, Robinson filled out pages and pages about safety concerns from the business owner.
“The dangerous behavior of a parking lane and a driving lane are one and the same,” Robinson said. “If you’re standing in a parking lane and there are buses coming up behind you, it’s very dangerous.”
Several Truman Road business owners have noted the difficulty of loading and unloading flatbeds in an industrial area surrounding the bike path in a reduced traffic lane.
“Serving in and out of Truman Road is a nightmare,” said one business owner who attended the meeting.
Steve Leiter with Kansas City Screw Products agreed.
“If I can’t bring in a piece of steel, they’ll put me out of business,” he said. “I can’t put my driver with a bullseye on his back.”
Business owners said there are safety concerns in the customer parking lot, a decrease in profits, fast drivers, no signs and properly parked cars can be hit.
“They should have had this meeting before they installed the bike lanes,” Robinson said.
KCMO Public Works Director Michael Shaw said he’s here to protect people and listen to feedback.
“We have to take responsibility for some things,” Shaw said. “I’ll tell you as a director, how we put it, the performance could have been better.”
There were also a handful of people there who were in support of the roads.
“A lot of it comes down to not having enough connections with the city,” says Michael Kelly with BikeWalkKC. “This is a new infrastructure, he needs to sit down and explain the infrastructure and who should use it.”
After Friday’s meeting, Robinson said solutions include removing the bike lanes entirely or realigning them for permanent parking.
Robinson said a bylaw would need to be introduced and it would take seven voters to remove the bike lanes.
Shaw said the new bike lanes aren’t finished yet, but installation won’t go ahead due to safety concerns.
In the meantime, until a decision is made, signs will be added to show drivers how to use the road, Shaw said.
“Because it’s new, I think people are a little confused,” Shaw said. “As a driver, the rules of the road remain the same – lanes determine where you drive.”
Shaw and Robinson said more details on how the city will move forward will be available in a week.
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