Myths vs. Reality in the Red Bridge Road Issue
Myth: Friends of Red Bridge is against everything.
Reality: FoRB has been researching the solutions for the entirety of Red Bridge Road and surrounding neighborhoods for over two years. We have a number of design alternatives that will serve our community far better than the Public Works plan, cost less, last longer, and require less maintenance. We are petitioning the City to initiate a new planning process that will give us a first-class bridge and roadway with bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. We have also been characterized as the most visible example of the Livable Streets movement in Kansas City today.
Myth: Emergency services are impaired by the railroad crossing.
Reality: The City has created overlapping service areas. Because of that, the City was able to close the Red Bridge and Harrison fire station for over a year and yet maintain emergency service coverage.
Myth: No trucks will be allowed between Wornall and Blue River.
Reality: The “no-trucks” signs are routinely ignored, and the police department does not have the manpower to enforce them. With a larger road and bridge, even larger trucks will use the road.
Myth: The City’s latest proposal is a compromise that decreases the size of the bridge.
Reality: The latest proposal for the bridge is wider, bigger, and more dangerous than even their previous proposals.
Myth: The railroad crossing is dangerous and needs to be eliminated.
Reality: Federal Railroad Administration records reveal the crossing at Red Bridge Road to be very safe, with only one incident (resulting is minor property damage only) recorded since crossing guards were installed. All of the other crossings on the same line in the area have a poorer record of safety, but there are no plans to eliminate those crossings. Indeed, if doing so will cost as much as the Red Bridge project, it is doubtful the City could afford it. However, there is a Federal program known as “quiet zones” that will greatly improve the safety of these crossings. Olathe, Lee’s Summit, and Lenexa are all implementing Quiet Zones. Kansas City does not appear to even know that the program exists.
Myth: Discussions have been going on for 84 months and it’s time to move forward.
Reality: Using a process known as “design and defend” no discussions were ever held to allow public influence on the shape and scope of the project. The public meetings were a charade. Out of many possible designs, the City chose one without any public examination of the alternatives. And despite numerous objections to the plan, no changes have ever been made to address them.
Myth: Public Works is required to build a bridge to span the flood plain.
Reality: There is no such requirement. We have surveyed most of the arterial bridges recently built in south Kansas City and none of them span their flood plains! (Some examples: near 103rd & Wornall, near 99th & Holmes, near 137th & Holmes, Blue Ridge Extension over Blue River, Bannister over Little Blue River)
Myth: A meeting in January, 2000 at St. Catherine's Church was attended by 600 people to support the 4-laning of Red Bridge Road.
Reality: When attendees to that meeting arrived, they were handed a sheet of paper stating that they would not be allowed to participate in the discussion. Many people who later formed Friends of Red Bridge went to that meeting. The people who were responsible for the meeting did not ask what anyone in the audience thought.
Myth: Frequent flooding closes Red Bridge Road for days.
Reality: Even people who have lived near the river for 65 years or more have only witnessed a few instances of flooding. On those rare events, the road is closed for a matter of hours, not days.
Myth: Construction of a bridge over the railroad will eliminate the train whistle.
Reality: The train will still cross 103rd Street. In fact, the crossings on 135th Street, Holmes Road, 95th Street, and others will remain. However, as mentioned above, there is a Federal program known as “quiet zones” that will greatly improve the safety of these crossings as well as eliminate the requirement to sound the whistle. Olathe, Lee’s Summit, and Lenexa are all implementing Quiet Zones. Kansas City does not appear to even know that the program exists.
Myth: Red Bridge Road is not now, nor will it ever be, a “Grandview Triangle Bypass”.
Reality: Wake up and smell the diesel! It already is an alternate route for highway traffic of all kinds (except the tractor-trailer trucks that can’t fit under the bridge’s 13'1" height limitation). Public Works’ plan will allow the big rigs to use Red Bridge. In fact, their plan will induce more traffic of all kinds to use Red Bridge Road. The questions that need to be addressed are how can we limit by-pass traffic, and can we more effectively handle it when it happens?
Myth: The bridge can’t bear the weight of fire trucks.
Reality: Comments like this rest upon the assumption that Friends of Red Bridge oppose the replacement of the old bridge, which is not true. However, fire trucks of all kinds use the bridge, and most do it without violating the posted load limit of 12 tons, which is, by the way, a per-lane limit. So, when a fire truck sounds the alarm, it clears vehicles from the bridge, and passes down the center of a bridge that has an implied overall load limit of 24 tons. Moreover, posted load limits do not mean that heavier vehicles will collapse the bridge. There are several other load limits all over south K.C. which, if strictly observed, would prevent the heavier fire trucks from passing.
Myth: CCO (Church Community Organization) meeting in 2000 was concerned about bridge safety and the railroad crossing.
Reality: Concerns expressed at the scripted meeting held at St. Catherine of Siena Parish church related to congestion on the roadway and the need for sidewalks and shoulders. Highway by-pass traffic and the Blue Ridge Boulevard bridge closure made traffic on Red Bridge Road the heaviest ever seen. Traffic volumes have declined markedly since then, and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODoT) predicts further declines when work is completed on the new highway interchange.
Myth: The new roadway is needed to ease traffic congestion on Red Bridge Road.
Reality: The new roadway will only lead to more traffic on Red Bridge Road. Congestion will therefore worsen because there will be no modifications for the roadway from Blue River to Grandview Road for many years, perhaps decades (and for Holmes to State Line, years or decades after that!) Friends of Red Bridge proposes a solution with no traffic-inducing modifications plus changes to major intersections to increase traffic capacity without widening the road.
Myth: The bridge rates a 2 out of 100 with 100 being the safest.
Reality: The bridge inspection report being quoted does have a rating system, but it is not a safety rating. A perfect-100 bridge could be more dangerous than a 2-rated bridge. The components of the rating are traffic and structural engineering considerations. This figure is quoted like a religious chant by supporters of the mammoth bridge in order to give the public the false impression that the existing bridge must be replaced immediately, lest it require closure. However, the truth is that there is plenty of time to come up with a better design. A study of the biennial bridge inspection reports reveals that the bridge’s rating was stable until the City announced they had a plan to replace it. The report following that showed a marked drop in the rating, though nothing had happened to the bridge. The inspections were performed by a company that gets a huge portion of its business from the City.
Myth: “We’ve had deaths there!” ~Councilman Alvin Brooks
Reality: Former Councilman Chuck Eddy also repeatedly stated that there have been deaths on Red Bridge Road near the Blue River. When questioned at a community meeting, the truth came out: no deaths in the project area. However, this myth is repeated again and again, most recently by Alvin Brooks during the 2007 mayoral campaign. The only deaths on the road were miles away and in both cases Public Works was at fault, not the road. (An out-of-court settlement was reached in one case.)
Myth: Friends of Red Bridge is just a couple of “nut cases”.
Reality: FoRB is an organization with over 500 supporters. Included in our active membership are individuals with a long history of community involvement: a school board member, a community planner, veterans of previous south K.C. campaigns such as those to save Richards-Gebaur and to stop the DeVry dormitories (and then to bring in Red Bridge Greens instead), and oppose numerous corporate-welfare tax increases. We have local real estate investors, a retired firefighter, doctors, lawyers, civil engineers, you-name-it. Join us.
Myth: The two major umbrella homeowner associations in South Kansas City -- the Southern Communities Coalition and the Center Planning and Development Council -- are taking a neutral stance on the Red Bridge Issue.
Reality: Going against the “leadership” of our two councilmen at the time, both the co-chairs of Southern Communities and the secretary of Center Planning sent letters to City officials opposing the expansion of Red Bridge Road.
