Missouri Bicycle News

The City of Kansas City, Missouri, is considering adopting bicycle parking requirements to apply to future development projects throughout the city. If adopted in the city's zoning ordinance - the revision of which is now underway - bicycle parking facilities would be required for construction and major rehabilitation projects for retail, commercial, and office buildings, as well as multi-family residential projects, public facilities and garages. Bicycle parking can include racks for short term use and secure lockers for long-term storage during the working day or nighttime. The facilities can lead to the advent of showers and changing facilities that further enable and enhance bicycle commuting.

Mandated bicycle parking represents a major leap towards promoting bicycling for transportation purposes in Kansas City and the region. Opportunities are rare to introduce changes like this into the city's development and permitting process. Literally billions of dollars of development projects are already underway in the city's urban core and thus do not require bicycle parking but cities continually evolve and undergo redevelopment. The time is now for Kansas City to catch up to Portland, Denver, Chicago and other cities by requiring this simple provision that better integrates bicycles into our transportation network.

The impact of bicycle parking extends beyond the convenience, safety, shelter and security that bicycle parking provides. Like bicycle racks on buses, each bicycle parking rack is a tangible, visible communication to cyclists and non-cyclists alike that bicycles are part of our transportation infrastructure. Wide-scale implementation of bicycle parking implicitly delivers a "share the road" message. Bike racks of an appropriate design are inexpensive (and incentive measures can even result in a net savings to developers), but their benefit, utility and meaning extend well beyond the rack.

Formal consideration and public hearings on this issue will occur in the fall of 2006. The Missouri Bicycle Federation is acting now to consult with the city to provide input on design standards and other requirements that should be included in this far-reaching issue.