Crossing Westport

Last night I went to a meeting of concerned neighbors regarding the pedestrian safety at Bell-Genessee and Westport Rd. It seems there have been several close calls with people running for their lives attempting to cross Westport Road. Even on Sunday mornings when Immanuel Lutheran Church holds its services the crossing can be dangerous. Being the Walkability advocate that I am, I think I should keep myself informed about pedestrian issues around town. It was appropriate that I parked on the south side of Westport and had to run for my life to make it across to the Immanuel Lutheran Church where the meeting was held. There was a brief moment where I thought I was going to end up a hood ornament on a truck bearing down on me. About 25 people were there along with a City Traffic Engineer. If you've read my 'As I See It' piece from a few months back you know my opinion about Walkability and traffic engineers in KC. He did not disappoint. As the residents made their concerns known, he listened and then offered the same old solution. A traffic study will be performed. Maybe if the numbers are high enough, a pedestrian signal can be installed at Bell St. He bristled when I suggested a speed table as a possible alternative. City traffic engineers don't like new fangled thinkin'. I will be surprised if the City offers any remedy for what is an extremely dangerous stretch of road. The numbers they require in their traffic studies are artificially high. If they don't reach a certain threshold in their study, they won't fund any traffic control solutions. This puts the financial burden on the residents if they wish to pursue their own solution. There are many tools available these days for traffic calming and pedestrian safety. Not all of them cost $100,000 which is what I'm told a standard pushbutton pedestrian light would cost. Don't even get me started on that. I can build a house for a hundred grand and it costs the same to put up a pole with a light?! That's another topic for another post. Anyway, to make a long post longer, I will work with whomever I can to get our traffic engineers a little more forward thinking. "Traffic" is not just cars. Maybe I can get their job titles changed to Transportation-Pedestrian Engineer or something like that. It's not a solution, but it's a start. I'm not willing to make pedestrian safety a numbers game. We should all be safe.