Streets in Kansas City and its suburbs are often not bicycle-friendly places. Hazards await cyclists who want to ride a long stretch on a racing or touring bike or to commute to work - broken, potholed and cracked pavement, impossibly busy arterial roadways and highways, grills and grates over storm drains - that directly affect cycling safety and limit the cyclist's choices of where and when to ride.

"In general, I think, the vehicular environment has degraded at all levels over the last 10 years," says Art Gaugh, a Kansas City Bicycle Club (KCBC) member who has ridden bicycles for sport, fun and commuting since 1975. "But it is not worse just for cyclists. There has been an increased intolerance for everyone on the road in the last decade. You are more exposed as a cyclist. Cyclists are easier targets - you don't see many people cutting off 18-wheelers."

"The worst drivers are not momentarily frustrated people, but fringe people who are intolerant of anything that's not a car. The smaller the vehicle you are on or in, the more you feel it."

"There is no contest. The car always wins when it comes to bike-against-car, and I don't think a lot of drivers think about that."

Mountain bikers and recreational cyclists can find space in parks and on trails built for them, pedestrians and joggers - such as the now-forming Interurban Rail Line and Minor Park/Blue River trails in Midtown and south Kansas City, MO, and the Indian Creek Trail in Overland Park and Leawood, KS.

"There have been many improvements," says Dale Crawford, a member of the Johnson County Bicycle Club (JCBC) and a planner for the Olathe, KS, city government. "Most of the plans and improvements for bicycles focused on trails for cyclists and pedestrians - off-road-type facilities, which we need and are popular facilities. What we have not seen is improvements for cycling on the roads."

Theresa Thornton takes a water break on a recent ride through Prairie Village and Midtown Kansas City, MO.

A few suburban communities have striped and signed bike routes through their towns. But the urban core, where the bicycle commuters and riders live most densely, has lagged behind - a situation that may be changing.

"Basically, we are at zero right now," says Ron McClendon of the Kansas City, MO, Street and Sidewalk Design Task Force, a Public Works Department committee that will determine how to spend $290,000 of federal money the city recently received for bicycle transportation improvements. "You'd be hard put to find a bike route sign in Kansas City, MO."

Road rashes

Some metro residents pursue serious cycling for commuting, touring and exercising, regardless of road conditions, motorist intolerance and lack of facilities to store bikes and clean up after commuting. But road hazards and an automobile culture intolerant of anything but other cars (then only tenuously) keep many earnest people from putting their energy into turning pedals.

But not all hazards are physical. Politicians see bicycles as leisure-time devices best operated on the park jogging trail - not as transportation with all the rights and responsibilities of any vehicle on the road. Such an attitude has hindered serious efforts in Kansas City toward accommodating cyclists, improving bicycle safety and promoting cycling as an alternative form of transportation.

Part of this mindset comes from the lack of a strong cycling tradition in the Midwest and 35 years of the highway lobby exerting its influence on Congress and preventing federal highway funds from being used for anything but traditional roadways. Only within the last 10 years has Congress loosened restrictions on highway funds to allow, even compel, cities to use highway funds for roadway improvements for pedestrians and cyclists.

Drivers also do not accommodate cyclists on the road well. While many will give the cyclist room to ride, some do not even notice the cyclist is on the road with them. Worse yet, a small minority of drivers act aggressively toward cyclists, yelling obscenities and throwing cigars, cigarettes, soft-drink and beer bottles and other trash at cyclists or in their paths - in addition to using their cars as giant and potentially deadly tools to teach cyclists unknown and selfishly inspired lessons.

The image of a bicycle as a child's toy or adolescent hobby also works to keep people from considering the bicycle a viable form of transportation. Part of the lack of respect for bicycles of all kinds comes from law enforcement's reluctance to hold cyclists to the law as closely as they might automobile drivers. Both of Kansas City's largest bicycling clubs, the KCBC and JCBC, advocate that police enforce the law as strictly for bicycles as for cars.

"Bicycles are not considered in the eyes of the public as vehicles," says Crawford. "Legally, according to state statutes in Kansas and Missouri and about everywhere else, they are vehicles. Typically in court and physically, whether the cyclist is in the right or wrong, they lose. That is because law enforcement, lawyers and judges see the bicycle as toy and not as vehicle.

"When things wind up in court in a civil suit or as the result of a traffic violation or accident, the people there feel it must have been cyclist's fault. I am not saying cyclists are always right; frequently they are wrong. But consequences should fall where they need to be in court, with law enforcement."

Poor behavior on the part of a few gives a bad name to the great masses of cyclists who obey the rules of the road, ride defensively and avoid confrontations with drivers. "Drivers see cyclists being rude, not obeying the laws of the roads, putting drivers into compromising situations, acting like the law doesn't apply to them. Law enforcement reinforces that notion, ticketing cyclists is not a law enforcement priority."

"There is not a general acceptance by the motoring public of cyclists' right to be on the road," says Johnson County Bicycle Club member Dale Crawford. "Until that outlook is changed...cycling will struggle as a form of transportation."

This, Crawford believes, contributes to a situation in which, "There is not a general acceptance by the motoring public of cyclists' right to be on the road. Until that outlook is changed, cycling will struggle in the roadway. Until conditions on those roads improve, cycling will struggle as a form of transportation."

Crawford believes cyclists not only need to know how to act as vehicle operators, but also that the law applies to them. Drivers need to realize that they have to share the road. Such an atmosphere of mutual respect will engender a better cycling environment.

"Cyclists must be safe and improve cycling safety using laws already there," he says. "They should claim the lane they are riding in and signal at all times (using traditional directional and stop signals with the left hand that drivers learn to use in case their automobile directional or brake lights fail). The more you act like a vehicle, the more you will be treated like one. Cyclists who don't do that are our own worst enemies."

DeSoto means 'no'.

As an example of cyclists spoiling their own fun, Crawford cites an incident earlier this year in DeSoto, KS. A citizen complaint lead to the DeSoto City Council banning cycling along a 2 1/2-mile stretch of 83rd Street east of town. What precipitated the complaint were three cyclist riding abreast down the two-lane roadway last spring, holding up traffic and violating traffic laws. One of the cyclists allegedly made rude gestures to frustrated motorists who had to share the road.

Official statements cited safety of the narrow, hilly roadway as a reason to ban cyclists. But no cyclist interviewed for this article familiar with the stretch recalled anything in the recent past that indicated there was a problem. Crawford, who testified before the city council about the ordinance, said research had shown no accidents in the recent past involving cyclists.

About 60 cyclists on the Critical Mass Ride challenged the city of DeSoto June 19 to ticket them for riding on a 2 1/2-mile stretch of 83rd Street where cycling was recently banned by the DeSoto City Council.

The road is particularly important to cyclists as the only paved, direct route from northeast Johnson County to Lawrence. Alternative routes, including 135th Street, 151st Street and Kansas Highway 10 were no safer and the 13-mile detour would do more to discourage cycling than to save the lives of cyclists.

While the DeSoto incident showed how cyclists themselves can set people against them, it also showed the attitude of the city council. "They see a wide shoulder on K10 and wonder why a cyclist can't ride on that," Crawford says. "Cyclists seek the safest route. K10 is not safe, with a posted speed limit of 70 miles per hour versus 45 for 83rd Street. At those higher speeds, motorists and cyclists don't have time to think. The DeSoto council does not understand that wind blasts from semis frequently can blow you off the road."

In testimony before the DeSoto council, Crawford and others suggested alternatives to closing the road, including designated cycling routes and lane striping, but banning the cyclists seemed the easiest, cheapest solution. In addition, the city council increased the daily number of dump trucks a local quarry could put on the stretch of 83rd Street where cycling was prohibited.

Jason Peck, a computer analyst for a Midtown insurance company, has been cycling seriously for five years and lives near Ottawa, KS. While adding 26 miles to a round trip to Lawrence is bad, he says, "This is a matter of equality. There is no legal basis or foundation for this ordinance. Originally, the ordinance was to ban bicycles from all streets with posted speed limits of more than 35 miles per hour. If they were concerned about safety on that one stretch, then why ban bikes all over town?

"Someone flipped someone off. There were violations of the law, but law enforcement should enforce the law before making new ones. We can't do anything with political pressure, so we have to seek our relief in the courts."

Peck's organization, Citizens for Alternative Transportation, filed a lawsuit against the city of DeSoto after several riders were ticketed for attempting to ride on the banned stretch of 83rd Street. About 60 cyclists participated on the Critical Mass Ride, June 19, organized by Citizens for Alternative Transportation.

"We weren't sure what would happen," Peck says. "We rode to the line and all but five or six people cycled the banned road. We all got a written warning on the other side, but the cops said that to go back was to get a ticket. Even then, 10 or 11 of us had to ask to be ticketed. They did not want to give citations to us."

Snotty elitists

Cyclists themselves may keep others who might take up cycling from doing so. Recreational cyclists tooling around their neighborhoods or around parks find the solitary pursuit of the pastime quite pleasurable. But frequently those yearning for more experience and advice with their bicycles and their cycling find some more experienced cyclists unfriendly, cliquish, fashion conscious, antisocial and downright hostile.

"When I pass a cyclist on the road, I always ring my bell and wave," says Gaugh. "But the ones with all the gear, high-tech accessories and sunglasses most often just ignore me or look at me like I am a maniac. It drives me crazy. We (cyclists) are often our own worst enemies."

But it's not all gloom for earnest cyclists looking for fun, exercise and advice. Gaugh leads a group of cyclists on Kansas City Bicycle Club's North Kansas City Beginner's Ride. On a recent Wednesday night, the cyclists participating in the ride swarmed around a parking lot like a flock of birds, moving in large circles with chains sputtering into sprockets and shoes clicking and clacking into toe clips. Official thermometers sat at 101 degrees and a heat index of 106.

These weren't die-hard cyclists (some say bike nazis) in multicolor jerseys, ankle socks and the latest equipment on high-tech bicycles. The cyclists at the Beginner's Ride cared more of learning about cycling and having a good ride than impressing one another. A few T-shirts, tennis shoes and bikes with chipped paint marked the 14 or so cyclists tooling around the parking lot at 18th and Erie streets in North Kansas City.

Some of the cyclists had never ridden with a group before. Others cycle weekly or monthly, but would like to ride more often. "I am here because I like to ride," said one woman, an accountant for a local publishing company. "But with work and family, can't get out like I really want to. This is a good ride, people are friendly and no one gets left behind."

Gaugh said the ride was about "having a good time. When a group ride stops being a good time, the folks who ride with unfriendly people for the first or second time won't come back."

Before a Thursday night ride departing from 83rd and Mission, Crawford greeted all of the nearly 20 cyclists participating. Many of the cyclists did not talk to one another or gathered in groups of three to five cyclists. One woman told Crawford she wasn't sure she could keep up with the intimidating group of mostly male riders who looked very serious. Crawford plied the crowd for a cyclist who would take up the rear of the ride.

A male cyclist, about 40 years old, stepped forward and offered to ride with the woman, while most of the other riders either ignored Crawford or turned away at his entreaties.

When starting time came, about 12 cyclists disappeared in a phalanx of brightly colored jerseys and wrap-around sunglasses. Another four cyclists rode in a group by themselves, while four, including Crawford, soon lost site of the rest.

"Here's the thing," he said, "That guy riding with that woman in back can put most of these other guys to shame. He does nothing but ride his bike. Until two years ago, he didn't even have a car. He's a good guy."

Along the route through Midtown Kansas City, MO, and Mission Hills and Prairie Village, KS, Crawford talked about how cyclists need to be more accommodating to one another. "People find that this is good exercise," he said. "It's easy on your joints and gets you out to see a lot of scenery."

A little over half the cyclists showed up at a regrouping point at Loose Park, where they waited for the woman and her new-found cycling companion. The rest had ridden off by themselves.

People who normally would not participate in team or heavy impact sports, Crawford said as he began to cycle again, "get in shape on a bicycle and stick with it. A whole lot more would if cyclists were more friendly.

"By the way, that guy riding with the woman in the back, he cycles all year round - about 20,000 miles a year."

Cops and bicycles

On the way back to 83rd and Mission from Loose Park, a Mission Hills police officer pulled over two particularly cocky cyclists for running a stop sign on a road next to the Kansas City Country Club. Cyclists report that stop sign "is the most fun in the entire city to run," being at the bottom of a long hill from State Line Road and dropping into a sharp curve at the country club.

"Cyclists just hate this sign," laughed Crawford as he slowed his bike to stop, as he does for all stop signs. Just beyond, the cop lectured the most flagrant of the two offenders. "Here's a guy who is a strong cyclist, with racing ability." Crawford turns past the scene as the cop gets back into his car, apparently letting stop-sign runners off with a warning. "But he never wears a helmet on club-sponsored rides (helmets are required on all JCBC and KCBC rides) unless you ask him. He never stops for a stop sign and is just generally a bad example.

"They stopped him, and that's good. But they need to write tickets when they stop people."

The problems for law enforcement are obvious. Cyclists may or may not have identification. If not, the police have no idea whether information the cyclist gives them is correct. Arresting a cyclist who a police officer suspects is not telling the truth for a traffic violation is drastic medicine. When arrest is possible, the police may have to try to make some accommodation for the bicycle, which can't be left locked on the side of the road or packed into a patrol car.

As communities with bicycle patrol police increase, Crawford says, awareness of bicycles for recreation and transport in general will also increase. Community policing efforts in Kansas City have generally been a public relations success. Kansas City, MO, police officers say that citizens like "bicycle cops" because they are more accessible, pose less of a Big Brother-like threat and maintain a friendlier profile when they are not locked and armed in tank-like patrol cars.

But bicycle cops may not be the best cyclists. In Westport, for instance, bicycle police frequently ride on sidewalks and do not always obey rules of the road - giving the public an image of cycling as a go-anywhere-do-anything pastime. Crawford believes, however, that if the police on the bicycles are model cyclists, citizens who do not understand cycling will get the message that bicycles are as viable as the car as a means of getting around. Cyclists will also understand that traffic laws apply to all cyclists.

Urban, rural and suburban cycling

Cyclists interviewed for this article on three recent organized rides were unanimous in their view that cycling is safest in the city and in rural areas, and cycling in the suburbs is most dangerous.

"The car always wins when it comes to bike-against-car, and I don't think a lot of drivers think about that," says Art Gaugh, a Kansas City Bicycle Club member who has cycled for sport, fun and commuting since 1975.

Difficulties in parking, narrow streets - sometimes lined with parked cars on both sides - the close proximity of traffic signals and the presence of cyclists and pedestrians on roads may all contribute to how urban residents react when approaching a cyclist. Urban dwellers are frequently cyclists or pedestrians themselves, leading them to be more aware of the space around their cars and how their cars interact with the perception of safety for pedestrians.

"Most people in the city will give you the room you need," says Gaugh. "It isn't always true, because there are people who don't care everywhere. The suburbs are less generally safe than high density areas of the region. I think it has to do with speed. Suburban streets have higher design speeds, generally.

"Let's say a road is engineered with design speed of 45 miles per hour, but it's posted at 35. People don't drive speed limit, but design speed. If drivers can drive faster, they will. In the suburbs, it also seems people are more impatient and impolite. The right lane is no longer the slow lane, and drivers use whatever lane they need to get around. As a cyclist, you stay on the right and obey the rules, regardless of what drivers are doing."

Crawford also believes urban motorists have a greater awareness of cyclists. Many suburbanites assume there will only be cars on the road. With design speeds, they are driving faster. "I don't know that they are in a bigger hurry," he says. "But many suburban roads are solely for automobiles. Traffic engineers look at the need to get volumes of traffic counts and move those people on roads designed for higher speeds. This creates more difficulty in accommodating cyclists."

Peck most frequently rides out into the country in Franklin County but also participates in organized rides in town. "Cycling downtown, people receive you very well," he says. "Cycling in the suburbs is not very good. There are the 2 to 5 percent of people who don't feel you should be in the road. I have seen them play chicken with cyclists. You get chased by dogs, and people are rude. I have seen people run off the road."

While many cyclists make it a rule, a greater number of cyclists who formerly rode urban and suburban roads in the Kansas City metro region have taken to packing their bikes in their cars and driving to the country for exercise and enjoyment.

"State highways out in the country are great," Peck says. "In Kansas, particularly, the roads and shoulders are wide enough for a cyclist. In Missouri, the county roads are a bit too narrow, but are mostly all right for rides. Overall, roads in the country may be improving in physical shape, and there seems to more awareness in general.

"The farmers out our way are great and give you enough room and usually don't care one way or the other that you are there. They can see you from a distance and drive accordingly when they get in close. In Franklin County, the government is also very receptive of cyclists. The county commissioner was very upbeat soon as I mentioned cycling concerns and asked me to get involved. They see it as a way to attract people to area, to get people involved in recreational sports."

A distinct change

Many suburban Kansas City communities have just begun to see cycling lanes, bike routes and signs indicating the need to share the road as enhancements the quality of life in their cities. City planners also say many government officials are beginning to understand that cycling is not competition for the automobile as they have perceived it in the past.

Cyclists themselves have also become more active in advocating safe cycling and in planning transportation projects. They received a significant boost with the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). Under the law, states and metropolitan areas must consider all their transportation needs in planning transportation plans - these included cycling and walking.

"Cycling in the suburbs is not very good," says computer analyst Jason Peck, who founded Citizens for Alternative Transportation, a cycling advocacy organization. "I have seen them (car drivers) play chicken with cyclists. You get chased by dogs, and people are rude. I have seen people run off the road."

Funding for the projects would come from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) - money that was once sacrosanct and only to be used for automobile and truck transportation projects. "Nearly all of what we administer," says Andy Clarke, who works for the FHWA, "can be used on pedestrian and bicycle projects - even the interstate funding. Funds to do that come from federal gas tax and can be used to support bike and pedestrian activities. There is no requirement that state and regional governments have to spend money in bike and walk projects, but anything is possible.

"The FHWA can permit, encourage and promote enthusiasm for bike and walk projects, but there is nothing we can do if (there's) no money in a local plan."

The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) is the metropolitan planning agency for regional road projects that receive federal funds. In 1996, MARC released a study of existing cycling facilities, including paths and marked routes to create a transportation alternative in the five Missouri counties of the metro area. The goal was to develop a strategic plan with public input and then to find local matching funds for federal funding that would jumpstart implementation of a regional network of cycling facilities that would link with already well-established plans in Wyandotte and Johnson counties.

Off-road and on-road facilities would combine to make cycling a transportation alternative in a metropolitan area prone to air quality problems and debate over the course of highway construction and traditional development. Such cycling facilities include wider street design in new-lane and road construction with designated bike lanes, wider shoulders for suburban and rural highways, striping existing streets with bike lanes, and designating bike routes and putting bike racks at destinations with lights for safety.

Public support for such projects is strong says MARC planner Marlene Nagel. Johnson County had been planning and building some trails for a number of years. But on-road planning was a new major effort. Wyandotte County and Missouri metro area counties had not done much to accommodate needs of cyclists - on or off the road.

"The MARC plan and the Wyandotte and Johnson County plans were combined and accepted into the regional Long Range Transportation Plan," she says. "The striking thing about both plans is that a majority of proposed facilities are on-road rather than off-road trails. It is a recognization of the different kinds of cyclists. Some are families with kids, some are experienced cyclists who want to get somewhere ASAP and don't want to compete with joggers, strollers and walkers."

Since the 1996 study, Nagel says, design guidelines and other information have been forwarded to counties for their part of the planning process. So much has been completed, she says, that both bike transportation plans are in the process of being updated.

While on the increase, spending of federal highway funds for bicycle and pedestrian projects remains minuscule compared to the $600 million spending on highway projects in the Kansas City area, only 10 percent of which are local funds. According to MARC, the five Missouri counties of the metro received $219,670 in federal highway trust funds for bicycle and pedestrian projects in 1992, and $1,969,845 for the two years 1998 99 - a four-fold annual increase. For three years in 1992-1994, the Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas received $2,481,000 of highway funds bicycle and pedestrian projects. In 1999 alone, the counties received $2,470,000. The metro area received an additional $1,558,400 from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program under Transportation Equity for the 21st Century Act (TEA-21).

Kansas City lags behind other similarly sized cities in spending for bike/ped programs. For instance, the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, St. Louis' equivalent to MARC, reports that the St. Louis region of Missouri and Illinois bicycle and pedestrian projects received $7,568,622 in 1999. In addition, $10 million was transferred from other programs to be used for area bike/ped projects, including $1,074,599 in CMAQ funds in 1999.

Kansas City, MO, has moved the planning for bicycle facilities from the Parks and Recreation Department to Public Works. To some this may seem like an insignificant shift in bureaucracy, but what it signals is a sea change in the way the city views the bicycle. The city also received $290,000 from the CMAQ program for striping and signing 30 miles of bike routes in the city center in Jackson County.

"Many think of the bicycle it as just recreation," says McClendon of the Street and Sidewalk Design Task Force. "But it is transportation and recreation. We started by looking at existing bike plans for whole region and with Parks and Recreation along the boulevard system. We are adding and recommending routes we hope the city will mark and promote as bike routes throughout the city."

All consideration of bike routes, local funding and local ordinances having to do with bicycles must go before the city council for final approval.

"We will not see Kansas City as a Bejing or Paris as far as cycling goes," says Deputy Director of Kansas City, MO, Public Works Larry Frevert. "Roadways are primarily supported by fuel tax from auto users. When we have to ask auto drivers to share with someone who does not make a big contribution, I am not sure we can totally get there. People argue that cyclists - although they may own a car - don't use fuel when they are on a bike. "Why share with someone who does not pay as much as I do?"

But work is moving forward, says Frevert. The Street and Sidewalk Design Task Force has divided the city into four sections from which it will recommend a list of routes that will have to go through a series of public meetings, then to the city council and mayor to adopt as a plan. The needs of beginners, seniors and adolescents may be supported through the joint use of sidewalks, and more serious cyclists will be able to have facilities on the road.

"We have to ask what facilities are there to support cyclists - safe bike storage, lockers for helmet or other gear. Some say we need to advocate for showers for commuter cyclists - but I am not sure that will happen. Plus, we also have many new roadways in Kansas City that are built by developers. I can imagine, when a developer first had to put in a sidewalk, there was resistance. When we talk about wider lanes or other expenses, we will have more resistances. We will still have to fight with developers and help them understand that this is a quality of life issue and everyone wins."

While the effort is relatively new throughout the region, in Kansas City, McClendon says, "Anything like this can get lost in the shuffle. The city is not exactly flush and marking bike routes may be low priority. But it is significant that Public Works is taking the lead, and it is neat to hear traffic engineers acknowledge - without being prompted - that bike is a form of transportation."

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