KC Light Rail

We posted awhile back about an effort by 3rd District activist Airick Leonard West's efforts to steer the light rail conversation towards the east side (Prospect Avenue, specifically). Monday's second public meeting revealed an east side spur option along Volker Boulevard and Swope Parkway, terminating at Prospect or Bruce R. Watkins Drive. Last night, West's ViableThird group hosted (thanks to Prime Buzz for the recap) a community forum on other east side options: Linwood Boulevard, 18th/19th streets, and Truman Road.

Linwood seems the most likely of the three, but Truman lays the groundwork for connecting Independence (one metro city that's most likely to be on board with light rail due to existing bus funding, population density, transit dependency, and actual congestion); a cap of the freeway trench along Truman Road is also being studied, so there are probably some synergies there. Coincidentally, Linwood was the choice in The Star's "concensus route", as well as the recommendation from the Urban Society's Dave Scott (read this to see why our guest blogger Mark Forsythe takes issue with both). 18th/19th streets would connect to existing KCATA facilities and 18th & Vine, but there is no heavy transit use today along that corridor. If this is the catalyst that will finally restore the luster of the east side, activists will need to fight for affordable housing options since deep-pocketed developers touting market-rate condos will inevitably follow where the rails are laid.

This spur might preclude a northern terminus of Vivion Road — using the 12-mile affordability measure — since the distance between Water Works and the Plaza is between 8 and 9 miles. That would leave 3 or 4 miles to cover the 2-mile distance between Main Street and Prospect, plus any additional trackage leading to a maintenance facility. We assume this would also pose a dilemma for frequency and connections on each leg since not every train heading north from the Plaza and south from downtown would head east. The same question exists for trains heading west from Prospect: Do they all head north towards downtown? Do they stop and require a transfer? Do they head south to the Plaza? Or all of the above in some confusing schedule mash-up?

Regardless, an east side spur to Prospect would support moving the existing Main Street MAX route to that corridor to augment the #71 bus route, the second-highest ridership corridor in the city.