Kansas City’s Best Alleys Part 3: Bank Street

In light of the City’s recent decision to vacate yet another Downtown alley, Urban Angle is examining some of Kansas City’s most interesting in-between spaces, and why they are worth preserving.  Every day this week, we will visit a different alley, each with its own unique contributions to the experience of the City.  This is…

Kansas City’s Best Alleys Part 2: Power and Light

In light of the City’s recent decision to vacate yet another Downtown alley, Urban Angle is examining some of Kansas City’s most interesting in-between spaces, and why they are worth preserving.  Every day this week, we will visit a different alley, each with its own unique contributions to the experience of the City.  This is…

Creepy Car Cave Proposed for Crossroads

True North Hotel Group is working to build a $16 million creepy car cave at 20th and Main.  The creepy car cave would feature a dark and foreboding parking lot with a 115 room hotel precariously elevated on stilts above the lot.  The design maximizes the amount of space devoted to automobiles along the prominent…

Kansas City’s Best Alleys Part 1: The Commons

In light of the City’s recent decision to vacate yet another Downtown alley, Urban Angle is examining some of Kansas City’s most interesting in-between spaces, and why they are worth preserving.  Every day this week, we will visit a different alley, each with its own unique contributions to the experience of the City.  This is…

Cyclist Perspective on Grand Boulevard Concept

“A Long Road for a Grand Boulevard – Part 2” illustrates how thoughtful design can improve Grand Boulevard for all users. This post highlights a few refinements of this concept from the cyclist perspective. I agree with the overall premise of protected bike lanes and the approach to phasing from paint to full infrastructure.  After all, protected bike lanes…

Cheers and Jeers – Sidewalk Edition

Urban Angle’s Cheers and Jeers is an ongoing look at the best and worst of our urban environment, celebrating those who are making a difference, large or small, and kindly encouraging those who should do better.  Do you have an amazing or terrible or amazingly terrible place to share?  Let us know in the comments,…

Protected Bike Lane Success Stories

The recent post on Grand Boulevard introduces a design concept that includes protected bike lanes.  While Kansas City does not have any examples of protected bike lanes today, they are a commonly used and well-studied design approach.  The silver lining to lagging behind other communities in bicycle infrastructure is that there are case studies from…

A Long Road for a Grand Boulevard – Part 2

The first entry on this topic summarizes the design components and challenges for the various concepts being explored for Grand Boulevard. The following concept takes two sample blocks of Grand Boulevard to illustrate how thoughtful design can enhance the street in a way that meets the needs of all users, and also provides a clear…

A Long Road for a Grand Boulevard – Part 1

Grand Boulevard has been getting a lot of attention recently, with a wide assortment of stakeholders recognizing the importance of improving the boulevard. The concepts proposed thus far have created a high expectations but a definite lack of clarity about the most desirable and feasible path forward. A design that integrates the right balance of…