Transportation Topic

Transportation at its most basic level is the movement of people and goods. The transportation system is an interconnected network of streets and sidewalks, bus and streetcar lines, trails, bicycle facilities, highways, railroads, major waterways, and airports. Kansas Citians need to be able to move throughout the city safely and conveniently for work, healthcare, errands, food, recreation, and socializing. Kansas City’s employers and businesses need to be able to ship and receive goods and have access to customers and workers.

For decades, the public and private sectors made car transportation a priority for the city. That’s why today, it’s exceptionally easy to get around Kansas City by car, with limited traffic congestion. But there has been less investment in other modes of transportation, like walking, biking, and public transit. Limited investment plus increasing sprawl in the region has made moving around Kansas City increasingly difficult for people who don’t have an automobile, which is most common in lower-income households. This is an issue of equity: Equal access for everyone to safe transportation means equal access for everyone to the region’s opportunities.

Equity and a connected city

An important aim of the Playbook is to create a physically connected city that has the infrastructure people need to go where they want to go, safely and conveniently, through accessible, inviting modes of transportation. Unsafe conditions across the city’s transportation system need to be fixed. The Playbook’s Vision Zero approach refuses to accept that fatalities and serious injuries are inevitable. Vision Zero aims to create a transportation system in which no one is killed or seriously injured on Kansas City streets.

In physically connected cities, neighbors from different backgrounds can meet and connect, which can bring more equal access to employment and recreational opportunities, another way to promote equity. Historically, major physical and social barriers, such as highways cutting through neighborhoods, have displaced and disconnected low-income households and minorities more than other groups. To create a well-connected city, the city needs to understand and mitigate those adverse impacts.

It’s not just the means of transportation but how transportation systems are designed that determines how vital, equitable and complete individual communities can become. In a complete community, people can access most of their daily needs within a convenient travel time from home. That means employment, shopping, services, education and other social and recreational activities ideally can be reached with a 10- to 15-minute walk or bike ride or a short drive or ride on public transit.

Through developing complete communities, the city can promote equal access to economic opportunities and resources for everyone, regardless of where they live. Providing reliable, frequent, and seamless public transportation is key to that access. Transit is interlinked with other equity issues, too, such as sustainability, access to jobs, and affordable housing.

Land Use

Transportation systems and land use systems are interdependent. How the transportation network is designed and used depends on the density and design of adjacent land uses. Conversely, transportation systems help determine how land is used. A well-designed transportation system has adequate access and also meets the needs of all types of development. Investments in new transportation facilities have a big impact on how and where the city grows. Those investments should be used to guide sustainable development patterns.

Building, operating, and maintaining the transportation system requires an enormous public investment. Without proper planning, a transportation system can outgrow the municipality’s means to pay for it. Such a situation would have long-lasting financial and societal implications. To avoid it, the city must use emerging technologies and smart city data to better monitor how transit systems are performing and to plan for future system improvements. New trends in transportation technology and more frequent remote work arrangements will impact travel patterns and demand new policies and practices.

Parking and curb management may seem like a minor consideration, but they are a key part of the transportation system. It covers off-street parking, including in public and private lots and garages, and curb or on-street parking. It also includes other uses of the curb, such as pick-up/drop-off, loading, parklets, outdoor dining, bike/scooter parking, street landscaping and other amenities. Regulation of private development, management of on-street / curb parking, management of City-owned parking lots or garages, and coordination with private sector parking garage/lot owners are all tools the city can use to address parking and curb use.


Transportation and Economy

On a larger scale, transportation systems impact the city’s and the region’s economy. Kansas City is a massive hub of freight activity. Numerous geographical and physical attributes give us advantage when it comes to moving goods. The multimodal freight network facilitates that movement not just for residents but for the region and the United States as a whole. This has been the case for centuries. Kansas City’s location as the most centrally situated city in the United States has, over time, reinforced its importance as a cargo hub, particularly for rail freight.

Safely moving people and goods is essential for Kansas City. An efficient, accessible, and safe transportation system will improve Kansas Citians’ quality of life, the environment, and the economy. Kansas City must continue to maintain and improve its interconnected, multimodal transportation systems. The KC Spirit Playbook charts a path forward for transportation that is equitable, safe, efficient, and multimodal.


RELATIONSHIP TO VISION STATEMENTS

The Playbook has fifteen Vision Statements for Kansas City. The Playbook’s Vision describes what we want to be and outlines how we want our city to develop in the future, in line with community values and priorities. Those that are closely related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Affordable Community: We will create and nurture an affordable community and strive for abundant opportunity and employment at a livable wage for our residents.
Cultural Amenities: Our diverse cultural amenities, parks, and open spaces will provide a rich variety of experiences and vibrant environments..
Desirable Place: Our community will attract people and employers through being a desirable place to earn, learn, live, and thrive.
Equitable and Fiscally Sustainable: Our capital investments and growth will be equitable while maintaining the fiscal sustainability of the city.
Healthy Environmental Systems: We will promote and value the health of our environmental and natural systems and protect them from degradation.
History and Heritage: We will preserve places that celebrate all facets of Kansas City’s history and cultural heritage.
Innovation and Creativity: We will cultivate innovation and creativity in our governance, business, and educational practices related to smart city technology and physical development.
KC Uniqueness: We will preserve and enhance those things that make Kansas City unique – the small town feel with big city amenities and the wide range of diverse environments and neighborhoods.
Livable Neighborhoods and Diverse Housing: Our neighborhoods will be strong, livable, and authentic while ensuring diverse housing opportunities.
Mobility Options: Our well-connected and accessible neighborhoods and districts will be walkable and served by reliable, safe, and convenient mobility options.
Physical Beauty: Our city will be renowned for the physical beauty of its streets, buildings, public spaces, and infrastructure.
Regional Collaboration: Our city will continue to be the heart of the region. We will remain collaborative with our regional partners with a renewed focus on building partnerships to achieve the aspirations of this plan.
Sustainable Growth and Resilient City: Our community will grow in a sustainable manner and be resilient and adaptable to future changes.
Thriving Economy: Our economy will be resilient, inclusive, diverse, and thriving and will position our city competitively against our national peers.
Walkable, Clean, and Safe: Our community will promote the health of our residents and visitors through being walkable, clean, and safe.


RELATIONSHIP TO EQUITY STATEMENTS

The Playbook also has a series of statements focused on equity. Those that are directly related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Addressing Disinvestment: Direct investment to communities that have been abandoned or have experienced long-term disinvestment.
Citywide Accessibility: Ensure services, utilities, and transportation options are provided to everyone.
Community Collaboration: Empower people from different parts of the KC community in working together to solve problems.
Community Engagement: Empower people to shape their communities and recognize that communities value things differently.
Complete Communities: Ensure that people can meet their needs in their own neighborhood without having to travel long distances.
Housing Affordability: Ensure everyone has access to safe and affordable housing.
Inclusive Design: Ensure that development incorporates design features that consider people of all abilities.
Providing Services: Commit to taking care of the built environment and providing the same quality of maintenance and services citywide.
Welcoming Spaces: Ensure that public spaces and amenities are designed to support diverse, culturally authentic, and family-friendly activities, no matter how much money a person is able to spend.


RELATIONSHIP TO BIG IDEAS

There are five Big Ideas for Kansas City in the Playbook. The Big Ideas are the essential themes of the plan. They underpin all that the plan aims to do. Those that are closely related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Fostering neighborhoods that accommodate all ages, lifestyles, and incomes by diversifying and densifying housing choices and creating complete communities that facilitate a high quality-of-life
Transit-oriented development is crucial to the goal of providing diverse housing choices, ranging from single-family homes to duplexes to multifamily apartment complexes. Creating dense, affordable housing along public transit routes reduces the transportation burden on low-income households, increases equal access to transit, and provides ridership support to transit systems.
Creating a physically beautiful city by promoting high-quality design in public spaces, parks, private development, and capital improvements
Much of the city’s transportation systems operate in public spaces. These spaces are designed, equitable access to all transportation options should be ensured while also creating attractive, inviting streetscapes.
Respecting land as a limited resource by balancing outward growth with infill development, preserving natural resources, and developing in an equitable and sustainable manner
By providing reliable, fast public transit, the city can reduce the number of individual vehicles on the road. Reduced emissions and stormwater runoff will improve the quality of air and water systems.
Maximizing connections and mobility options by bridging or eliminating barriers and creating new physical connections and a robust multimodal transportation system
Our transportation system gives us physical mobility around the city. This system must support all means of mobility and eliminate barriers to easy, convenient transportation.
Creating a future-proofed city by better anticipating and reacting to new technologies and evolving conditions
New technologies are emerging in the transportation realm, such as electric vehicles, autonomous cars, smart parking, transportation communication systems, and data analytics). These systems will help Kansas City maintain safe and efficient mobility even as the climate, technology, resources, and society change dramatically over the coming decades.



RELATIONSHIP TO CITYWIDE GOALS

The Playbook identifies ten Citywide Goals for Kansas City. Those that are directly related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Connected City: Increase mobility options and create a more connected city
The city is connected physically, socially, and culturally through public spaces. Public rights-of-way account for the largest portion of these spaces. A variety of transportation options in the rights-of-way (such as driving, transit, walking, and biking) provides people with more opportunities for connecting with each other and for recreational activities in a safe, convenient, and enjoyable environment.
Diversity and Opportunity: Ensure the built environment strives to eliminate disparities, embrace diversity, and create economic opportunity
Transportation has significant equity and economic implications. Prioritizing improvements to the transportation system in areas of distress and disinvestment would greatly improve safety, quality of life, and mobility for the city’s most vulnerable residents. This will give residents greater connections between jobs, essential services, recreation, and affordable housing. Additionally, sectors of the economy are highly dependent on transportation, from manufacturing, shipping and logistics to receiving goods at offices and stores. Supporting the movement of goods through the transportation system will support economic and job growth for the city.
Environment for People of All Ages: Create a better environment that will attract and retain young people and allow residents to age-in-place
Housing and transportation preferences are changing for people of all ages. More people are choosing to live in walkable, bikeable areas with good access to transit. The cost of buying and maintaining a vehicle may be one reason for this trend. Or a physical disability might make driving difficult. Or people may be seeking a more active, sustainable lifestyle. Safe, convenient, and efficient transportation options will attract young people to Kansas City and give residents the means to age in place, even if they don’t have access to a personal vehicle.
Healthy Environment: Promote a healthy city through environmental sustainability and resiliency
Transportation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which lead to air pollution and climate change. Air pollution, in turn, leads to chronic diseases such as asthma and hypertension. If residents use public transit more often and personal vehicles less, there will be fewer greenhouse gas emissions and improved air quality. Another environmental challenge that accompanies transportation infrastructure is stormwater runoff, a result of the large, paved areas needed for that infrastructure. Reducing the number of surface parking lots and large expanses of impermeable, paved surfaces will lead to less stormwater runoff and a lower risk of flash floods. Moreover, a comprehensive multimodal network will improve public health by encouraging people to walk and bike as part of their travel.
History, Arts, and Culture: Preserve and celebrate our community character, history, arts, and culture
Transportation is part of Kansas City’s history. Streetcars and the boulevard system are unique to the city and to the character of distinct communities and should be preserved and interpreted as part of the city’s legacy.
Parks and Open Spaces: Protect and expand our system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces
Transportation in Kansas City can be both a mode of movement and an experience. Thoughtful, equitable transportation links communities to parks and open spaces, and boulevards are valued elements of the transportation and green space networks.
Smart City: Create a smart city through innovation and new technology
Many of the most-used smart technologies apply to city transportation. Data, innovation, tools, and applications span all aspects of the transportation network. It is important that the city continues to invest in, adapt to, and use new technology to tackle complex issues in the transportation network.
Strong and Accessible Neighborhoods: Create strong and desirable neighborhoods and ensure housing choice and affordability
Transportation networks are the circulatory system of neighborhoods, and last-mile transportation within them is a key consideration for their design. At the same time, neighborhoods need to connected to destinations that are farther away to effectively move goods and connect people with jobs.
Sustainable and Equitable Growth: Target physical investments strategically and ensure that growth and revitalization are sustainable and equitable
Transportation and growth are closely linked. Growth can be spurred by thoughtfully and deliberately investing in transportation. That means planning, from the start, the right type of transportation investment in the right place, given the high upfront and long-term maintenance costs of transportation infrastructure. The development of the transportation system helps determine what land uses and developments are viable. The reverse is also true: the density and type of land use helps determine what transportation system is needed to serve the neighborhood. Well-planned transportation investments can drive equitable, sustainable growth without the city incurring a cost that outweighs the tax revenue to pay for these systems.
Well-Designed City: Promote high-quality design in public investments and development
Transportation networks are a critical public investment. They can catalyze development and strongly influence how communities grow. Thoughtful transportation development goes hand-in-hand with high-quality, equitable, enduring, and responsible public investment and development.


RELATIONSHIP TO OBJECTIVES

The Playbook identifies twenty-one Objectives for Kansas City. The Objectives are the nuts and bolts of the Playbook. Each one contains detailed recommendations, strategies, and initiatives for a specific topic, framed by the overall direction the plan sets for that topic. The Objectives also set priorities and metrics for their implementation and provide supporting context, including relevant data and public input. A single Objective often supports multiple Goals and Topics.

Objectives primarily related to the Transportation Topic:
Objectives secondarily related to the Transportation Topic:


RELATIONSHIP TO MEASURES OF SUCCESS


Successful implementation of action items related to the Transportation Topic will result in:


Equal, convenient, safe, and efficient travel by car, public transit, walking, or biking
Freight movement supported at the regional level, including for deliveries to homes and businesses
Investments targeted to the areas of greatest need
Parking assets effectively used and managed
Fewer vehicle miles traveled, which will improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate climate change. Fewer vehicle miles traveled also will mean fewer deaths and serious injuries on city streets, a thriving local economy, and streets that can be universally accessed and enjoyed by all.
Transportation that connects people physically, culturally, socially, and economically.


The Playbook identifies Measures of Success that help the city gauge whether it is meeting the goals and objectives of the plan. The following metrics relate to the Transportation Topic:


Greenhouse gas emissions (by sector)
Decrease
Infrastructure lifecycle costs (infill vs. greenfield areas)
Decrease
Jobs accessible by 30-minute transit trip
Increase
Miles of new sidewalks
Increase
Miles of protected bicycle facilities
Increase
Miles of reduced speed limit
Increase
Miles of repaired sidewalks
Increase
Miles of roadway capital projects on high-injury network completed
Increase
Number of systemic improvements completed
Increase
Pedestrian crossing distance between major barriers
Decrease
People killed or seriously injured in traffic crashes on city streets (equity areas)
Decrease
Population with access to a park (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Population with access to a trail (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Public garage, lot and curb subsidy (by area type)
Decrease
Pubic transit access; half-mile radius by level of service (total jobs, total population, minority, population, low-income population, zero-car households, affordable housing units)
Increase
Ratio of transit commutes to drive-alone commute times
Decrease
Share of population in complete community areas (minority and low-income populations)
Increase
Surface parking lot area (by area type)
Decrease
Total vehicle miles traveled
Decrease
Transit funding per capita
Increase
Transit ridership (unlinked passenger trips)
Increase
Truck travel time reliability
Increase
Value of freight throughput
Increase
Vehicle-light households (by income; by transit access)
Increase

Transportation at its most basic level is the movement of people and goods. The transportation system is an interconnected network of streets and sidewalks, bus and streetcar lines, trails, bicycle facilities, highways, railroads, major waterways, and airports. Kansas Citians need to be able to move throughout the city safely and conveniently for work, healthcare, errands, food, recreation, and socializing. Kansas City’s employers and businesses need to be able to ship and receive goods and have access to customers and workers.

For decades, the public and private sectors made car transportation a priority for the city. That’s why today, it’s exceptionally easy to get around Kansas City by car, with limited traffic congestion. But there has been less investment in other modes of transportation, like walking, biking, and public transit. Limited investment plus increasing sprawl in the region has made moving around Kansas City increasingly difficult for people who don’t have an automobile, which is most common in lower-income households. This is an issue of equity: Equal access for everyone to safe transportation means equal access for everyone to the region’s opportunities.

Equity and a connected city

An important aim of the Playbook is to create a physically connected city that has the infrastructure people need to go where they want to go, safely and conveniently, through accessible, inviting modes of transportation. Unsafe conditions across the city’s transportation system need to be fixed. The Playbook’s Vision Zero approach refuses to accept that fatalities and serious injuries are inevitable. Vision Zero aims to create a transportation system in which no one is killed or seriously injured on Kansas City streets.

In physically connected cities, neighbors from different backgrounds can meet and connect, which can bring more equal access to employment and recreational opportunities, another way to promote equity. Historically, major physical and social barriers, such as highways cutting through neighborhoods, have displaced and disconnected low-income households and minorities more than other groups. To create a well-connected city, the city needs to understand and mitigate those adverse impacts.

It’s not just the means of transportation but how transportation systems are designed that determines how vital, equitable and complete individual communities can become. In a complete community, people can access most of their daily needs within a convenient travel time from home. That means employment, shopping, services, education and other social and recreational activities ideally can be reached with a 10- to 15-minute walk or bike ride or a short drive or ride on public transit.

Through developing complete communities, the city can promote equal access to economic opportunities and resources for everyone, regardless of where they live. Providing reliable, frequent, and seamless public transportation is key to that access. Transit is interlinked with other equity issues, too, such as sustainability, access to jobs, and affordable housing.

Land Use

Transportation systems and land use systems are interdependent. How the transportation network is designed and used depends on the density and design of adjacent land uses. Conversely, transportation systems help determine how land is used. A well-designed transportation system has adequate access and also meets the needs of all types of development. Investments in new transportation facilities have a big impact on how and where the city grows. Those investments should be used to guide sustainable development patterns.

Building, operating, and maintaining the transportation system requires an enormous public investment. Without proper planning, a transportation system can outgrow the municipality’s means to pay for it. Such a situation would have long-lasting financial and societal implications. To avoid it, the city must use emerging technologies and smart city data to better monitor how transit systems are performing and to plan for future system improvements. New trends in transportation technology and more frequent remote work arrangements will impact travel patterns and demand new policies and practices.

Parking and curb management may seem like a minor consideration, but they are a key part of the transportation system. It covers off-street parking, including in public and private lots and garages, and curb or on-street parking. It also includes other uses of the curb, such as pick-up/drop-off, loading, parklets, outdoor dining, bike/scooter parking, street landscaping and other amenities. Regulation of private development, management of on-street / curb parking, management of City-owned parking lots or garages, and coordination with private sector parking garage/lot owners are all tools the city can use to address parking and curb use.


Transportation and Economy

On a larger scale, transportation systems impact the city’s and the region’s economy. Kansas City is a massive hub of freight activity. Numerous geographical and physical attributes give us advantage when it comes to moving goods. The multimodal freight network facilitates that movement not just for residents but for the region and the United States as a whole. This has been the case for centuries. Kansas City’s location as the most centrally situated city in the United States has, over time, reinforced its importance as a cargo hub, particularly for rail freight.

Safely moving people and goods is essential for Kansas City. An efficient, accessible, and safe transportation system will improve Kansas Citians’ quality of life, the environment, and the economy. Kansas City must continue to maintain and improve its interconnected, multimodal transportation systems. The KC Spirit Playbook charts a path forward for transportation that is equitable, safe, efficient, and multimodal.


RELATIONSHIP TO VISION STATEMENTS

The Playbook has fifteen Vision Statements for Kansas City. The Playbook’s Vision describes what we want to be and outlines how we want our city to develop in the future, in line with community values and priorities. Those that are closely related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Affordable Community: We will create and nurture an affordable community and strive for abundant opportunity and employment at a livable wage for our residents.
Cultural Amenities: Our diverse cultural amenities, parks, and open spaces will provide a rich variety of experiences and vibrant environments..
Desirable Place: Our community will attract people and employers through being a desirable place to earn, learn, live, and thrive.
Equitable and Fiscally Sustainable: Our capital investments and growth will be equitable while maintaining the fiscal sustainability of the city.
Healthy Environmental Systems: We will promote and value the health of our environmental and natural systems and protect them from degradation.
History and Heritage: We will preserve places that celebrate all facets of Kansas City’s history and cultural heritage.
Innovation and Creativity: We will cultivate innovation and creativity in our governance, business, and educational practices related to smart city technology and physical development.
KC Uniqueness: We will preserve and enhance those things that make Kansas City unique – the small town feel with big city amenities and the wide range of diverse environments and neighborhoods.
Livable Neighborhoods and Diverse Housing: Our neighborhoods will be strong, livable, and authentic while ensuring diverse housing opportunities.
Mobility Options: Our well-connected and accessible neighborhoods and districts will be walkable and served by reliable, safe, and convenient mobility options.
Physical Beauty: Our city will be renowned for the physical beauty of its streets, buildings, public spaces, and infrastructure.
Regional Collaboration: Our city will continue to be the heart of the region. We will remain collaborative with our regional partners with a renewed focus on building partnerships to achieve the aspirations of this plan.
Sustainable Growth and Resilient City: Our community will grow in a sustainable manner and be resilient and adaptable to future changes.
Thriving Economy: Our economy will be resilient, inclusive, diverse, and thriving and will position our city competitively against our national peers.
Walkable, Clean, and Safe: Our community will promote the health of our residents and visitors through being walkable, clean, and safe.


RELATIONSHIP TO EQUITY STATEMENTS

The Playbook also has a series of statements focused on equity. Those that are directly related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Addressing Disinvestment: Direct investment to communities that have been abandoned or have experienced long-term disinvestment.
Citywide Accessibility: Ensure services, utilities, and transportation options are provided to everyone.
Community Collaboration: Empower people from different parts of the KC community in working together to solve problems.
Community Engagement: Empower people to shape their communities and recognize that communities value things differently.
Complete Communities: Ensure that people can meet their needs in their own neighborhood without having to travel long distances.
Housing Affordability: Ensure everyone has access to safe and affordable housing.
Inclusive Design: Ensure that development incorporates design features that consider people of all abilities.
Providing Services: Commit to taking care of the built environment and providing the same quality of maintenance and services citywide.
Welcoming Spaces: Ensure that public spaces and amenities are designed to support diverse, culturally authentic, and family-friendly activities, no matter how much money a person is able to spend.


RELATIONSHIP TO BIG IDEAS

There are five Big Ideas for Kansas City in the Playbook. The Big Ideas are the essential themes of the plan. They underpin all that the plan aims to do. Those that are closely related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Fostering neighborhoods that accommodate all ages, lifestyles, and incomes by diversifying and densifying housing choices and creating complete communities that facilitate a high quality-of-life
Transit-oriented development is crucial to the goal of providing diverse housing choices, ranging from single-family homes to duplexes to multifamily apartment complexes. Creating dense, affordable housing along public transit routes reduces the transportation burden on low-income households, increases equal access to transit, and provides ridership support to transit systems.
Creating a physically beautiful city by promoting high-quality design in public spaces, parks, private development, and capital improvements
Much of the city’s transportation systems operate in public spaces. These spaces are designed, equitable access to all transportation options should be ensured while also creating attractive, inviting streetscapes.
Respecting land as a limited resource by balancing outward growth with infill development, preserving natural resources, and developing in an equitable and sustainable manner
By providing reliable, fast public transit, the city can reduce the number of individual vehicles on the road. Reduced emissions and stormwater runoff will improve the quality of air and water systems.
Maximizing connections and mobility options by bridging or eliminating barriers and creating new physical connections and a robust multimodal transportation system
Our transportation system gives us physical mobility around the city. This system must support all means of mobility and eliminate barriers to easy, convenient transportation.
Creating a future-proofed city by better anticipating and reacting to new technologies and evolving conditions
New technologies are emerging in the transportation realm, such as electric vehicles, autonomous cars, smart parking, transportation communication systems, and data analytics). These systems will help Kansas City maintain safe and efficient mobility even as the climate, technology, resources, and society change dramatically over the coming decades.



RELATIONSHIP TO CITYWIDE GOALS

The Playbook identifies ten Citywide Goals for Kansas City. Those that are directly related to the Transportation Topic are highlighted in grey below:

Connected City: Increase mobility options and create a more connected city
The city is connected physically, socially, and culturally through public spaces. Public rights-of-way account for the largest portion of these spaces. A variety of transportation options in the rights-of-way (such as driving, transit, walking, and biking) provides people with more opportunities for connecting with each other and for recreational activities in a safe, convenient, and enjoyable environment.
Diversity and Opportunity: Ensure the built environment strives to eliminate disparities, embrace diversity, and create economic opportunity
Transportation has significant equity and economic implications. Prioritizing improvements to the transportation system in areas of distress and disinvestment would greatly improve safety, quality of life, and mobility for the city’s most vulnerable residents. This will give residents greater connections between jobs, essential services, recreation, and affordable housing. Additionally, sectors of the economy are highly dependent on transportation, from manufacturing, shipping and logistics to receiving goods at offices and stores. Supporting the movement of goods through the transportation system will support economic and job growth for the city.
Environment for People of All Ages: Create a better environment that will attract and retain young people and allow residents to age-in-place
Housing and transportation preferences are changing for people of all ages. More people are choosing to live in walkable, bikeable areas with good access to transit. The cost of buying and maintaining a vehicle may be one reason for this trend. Or a physical disability might make driving difficult. Or people may be seeking a more active, sustainable lifestyle. Safe, convenient, and efficient transportation options will attract young people to Kansas City and give residents the means to age in place, even if they don’t have access to a personal vehicle.
Healthy Environment: Promote a healthy city through environmental sustainability and resiliency
Transportation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which lead to air pollution and climate change. Air pollution, in turn, leads to chronic diseases such as asthma and hypertension. If residents use public transit more often and personal vehicles less, there will be fewer greenhouse gas emissions and improved air quality. Another environmental challenge that accompanies transportation infrastructure is stormwater runoff, a result of the large, paved areas needed for that infrastructure. Reducing the number of surface parking lots and large expanses of impermeable, paved surfaces will lead to less stormwater runoff and a lower risk of flash floods. Moreover, a comprehensive multimodal network will improve public health by encouraging people to walk and bike as part of their travel.
History, Arts, and Culture: Preserve and celebrate our community character, history, arts, and culture
Transportation is part of Kansas City’s history. Streetcars and the boulevard system are unique to the city and to the character of distinct communities and should be preserved and interpreted as part of the city’s legacy.
Parks and Open Spaces: Protect and expand our system of parks, boulevards, and open spaces
Transportation in Kansas City can be both a mode of movement and an experience. Thoughtful, equitable transportation links communities to parks and open spaces, and boulevards are valued elements of the transportation and green space networks.
Smart City: Create a smart city through innovation and new technology
Many of the most-used smart technologies apply to city transportation. Data, innovation, tools, and applications span all aspects of the transportation network. It is important that the city continues to invest in, adapt to, and use new technology to tackle complex issues in the transportation network.
Strong and Accessible Neighborhoods: Create strong and desirable neighborhoods and ensure housing choice and affordability
Transportation networks are the circulatory system of neighborhoods, and last-mile transportation within them is a key consideration for their design. At the same time, neighborhoods need to connected to destinations that are farther away to effectively move goods and connect people with jobs.
Sustainable and Equitable Growth: Target physical investments strategically and ensure that growth and revitalization are sustainable and equitable
Transportation and growth are closely linked. Growth can be spurred by thoughtfully and deliberately investing in transportation. That means planning, from the start, the right type of transportation investment in the right place, given the high upfront and long-term maintenance costs of transportation infrastructure. The development of the transportation system helps determine what land uses and developments are viable. The reverse is also true: the density and type of land use helps determine what transportation system is needed to serve the neighborhood. Well-planned transportation investments can drive equitable, sustainable growth without the city incurring a cost that outweighs the tax revenue to pay for these systems.
Well-Designed City: Promote high-quality design in public investments and development
Transportation networks are a critical public investment. They can catalyze development and strongly influence how communities grow. Thoughtful transportation development goes hand-in-hand with high-quality, equitable, enduring, and responsible public investment and development.


RELATIONSHIP TO OBJECTIVES

The Playbook identifies twenty-one Objectives for Kansas City. The Objectives are the nuts and bolts of the Playbook. Each one contains detailed recommendations, strategies, and initiatives for a specific topic, framed by the overall direction the plan sets for that topic. The Objectives also set priorities and metrics for their implementation and provide supporting context, including relevant data and public input. A single Objective often supports multiple Goals and Topics.

Objectives primarily related to the Transportation Topic:
Objectives secondarily related to the Transportation Topic:


RELATIONSHIP TO MEASURES OF SUCCESS


Successful implementation of action items related to the Transportation Topic will result in:


Equal, convenient, safe, and efficient travel by car, public transit, walking, or biking
Freight movement supported at the regional level, including for deliveries to homes and businesses
Investments targeted to the areas of greatest need
Parking assets effectively used and managed
Fewer vehicle miles traveled, which will improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, mitigate climate change. Fewer vehicle miles traveled also will mean fewer deaths and serious injuries on city streets, a thriving local economy, and streets that can be universally accessed and enjoyed by all.
Transportation that connects people physically, culturally, socially, and economically.


The Playbook identifies Measures of Success that help the city gauge whether it is meeting the goals and objectives of the plan. The following metrics relate to the Transportation Topic:


Greenhouse gas emissions (by sector)
Decrease
Infrastructure lifecycle costs (infill vs. greenfield areas)
Decrease
Jobs accessible by 30-minute transit trip
Increase
Miles of new sidewalks
Increase
Miles of protected bicycle facilities
Increase
Miles of reduced speed limit
Increase
Miles of repaired sidewalks
Increase
Miles of roadway capital projects on high-injury network completed
Increase
Number of systemic improvements completed
Increase
Pedestrian crossing distance between major barriers
Decrease
People killed or seriously injured in traffic crashes on city streets (equity areas)
Decrease
Population with access to a park (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Population with access to a trail (minority, low-income, senior, children, zero-car households)
Increase
Public garage, lot and curb subsidy (by area type)
Decrease
Pubic transit access; half-mile radius by level of service (total jobs, total population, minority, population, low-income population, zero-car households, affordable housing units)
Increase
Ratio of transit commutes to drive-alone commute times
Decrease
Share of population in complete community areas (minority and low-income populations)
Increase
Surface parking lot area (by area type)
Decrease
Total vehicle miles traveled
Decrease
Transit funding per capita
Increase
Transit ridership (unlinked passenger trips)
Increase
Truck travel time reliability
Increase
Value of freight throughput
Increase
Vehicle-light households (by income; by transit access)
Increase
Page last updated: 07 Apr 2023, 03:00 PM