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Hyde Park neighbors concerned with safety at bike lane crossing, sight lines near Armour Boulevard

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Posted at 9:39 PM, May 03, 2023
and last updated 2023-05-03 23:20:13-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Many living around the Hyde Park neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, are asking for more parking, safer crosswalks, slower traffic signs and better sight lines.

“We ride our bikes every day,” said Anne Webb, a Hyde Park resident with children.

Webb says she rides her bike twice a day to school with her husband and six-year-old daughter.

“The sight lines are terrible. With the parking, it’s very hard to see. If there was no parking, it would be a great bike line,” Webb said. “Multiple times a week, I’m being swerved around in a crosswalk — it’s just super dangerous.”

Webb and others in Hyde Park want city officials to see it their way too.

“My husband has sent multiple emails to 311 about how dangerous this intersection is, and how someone is going to be hit and killed and sadly now it’s happened,” she said.

Early on Wednesday morning, Katie McDonald and her 5-year-old daughter, Amira, were on the way to school.

McDonald and Amira, along with two other children, were crossing east Armour Boulevard to get to Campbell Street when Amira was hit by a car.

“Everything just happened so fast,” McDonald said. “We leave our apartment building like we always do, we go out to the street. I’m like, 'Everybody hurry,' (and) her foot got caught underneath the tire.”

Amira’s jaw and ankle were shattered by the impact of the hit, resulting in her needing surgery.

“I just wish we could figure out a better solution, and get something done,” McDonald said.

Crissy Dastrup’s 11-year-old son was on his way to school and saw it happen.

“We called 911 and we went out, and this was not the first time we were first responders to an accident on Armour Boulevard,” Dastrup said. “We know how horrible the visibility is, and how dangerous it is to cross Armour because of the bike lane configuration.”

Dastrup said it isn’t the drivers, it’s the infrastructure.

“I’ve gotta get out here to be able to look, and you see how close that car is in order to see around the cars," Dastrup said. "When you’re walking or driving, you have to get into traffic to see if there’s traffic. If I’m going to open my car door, my door is going to be opened up into traffic, there not enough space and there’s no visibility.”

According to a KCMO online 311 map, there are nearly 10 reports in the last year about the bike lanes on Armour Boulevard.

KSHB 41 reached out to KCMO city officials to see if they were aware of the claims or were looking into any potential solutions. This story will be updated if a response is received.