Did you know?

Did you know that there is a plan to rename US 71 highway to interstate 49? Did you know that I-49 runs from New Orleans northward? Did you know the ultimate plan for I-49? Did you know that Red Bridge Road may turn into a major truck route? Did you know that the future of the Bannister Mall site may be as a large distribution center with lots of truck traffic? Has anyone seen any MSM on this?

Bloggy link: www.kansascityconfidential.blogspot.com

There are issues with regard to our beloved South Kansas City--making Red Bridge Road a big traffic carrier will very much impact the quality of life for the entire area west of US 71 (until they change the signs that's what it is!). There was some focus on the plans for the Red Bridge replacement, and everybody attended to it for a little while, but collective ADD set in and now, things may just happen, especially now that the mall site is wide open. It appears that the choices made years ago (e.g. as the blogger above notes, making Red Bridge Road a big exit and Longview Road a small exit) have had a cumulative effect of increasing the potential of screwing up our nice residential areas.

Here's what Red Bridge Road should be--a three lane road between Grandview Road and State Line--no more then a west bound lane, an east bound lane and a left hand turn lane in the middle. It should not be graded or flattened or straightened any more than necessary to do the work to make it three lanes. It should go over or under the RR tracks--it will be much safer in so many ways if the RR crossing is not at the road level. The bridge should just be a bridge, a garden variety bridge over a small river. If John Sharpe and Cathy Jolly permitted the road to be made any bigger than this, they should be removed from office by the voters at the next election.

Another blog link: www.redbridgeroad.blogspot.com

There's so much I don't know. I wasn't as attentive to this one-two-three years ago as I should have been. I missed the recent public meeting about the Bannister Mall site. I have that same charming City-Hall-is-trying-to-put-one-over-on-me feeling as I do when I contemplate the MAST take over process, except I am much less informed and am playing catch up. This may be a harder thing to put in reverse than the MAST takeover, since so much of the planning has already been done. In addition, there are interested parties in places as far away as NOLA watching the process. The sense that south KC is in the process of being totally screwed is hard to shake.

So we'll keep an eye on this mess, with help from other bloggers (I certainly don't expect MSM to help.)