The Kansas City Metropolitan Area has one of the most extensive highway networks per capita in the country. Our highways allow us to get anywhere in the metro by car within an hour and it facilitates a relatively low average commute time of 23 minutes – a quicker commute time than any Metro Area larger than Kansas City (2016 ACS Data) . While we provide good highway access, we lag in provided transportation alternatives. A recent Brookings Institution study found that the Kansas City Metropolitan Area ranked 94th out of the 100th largest metropolitan areas in job access (Tomar 2012). Kansas City then has developed a mode of urbanism that enforces automobile dependency.
How did we end up this way? Since World War II ended we have built a large network of expressways and a network of fast (35 mph to 45mph to 55mph) arterials that feed into the expressway network. This large amount of highway buildings has given Kansas City the second largest amount of freeway miles commuting per capita (Texas A&M Transportation Institute 2018) We drive these freeway miles because we have developed at a relative low density. Since 1970, much of the area of Greater Kansas City was developed as neighborhoods of single-family houses on lots that are 8,000 square feet or larger – a rate that leads to 3 to 4 dwelling units per acre.
Low density development is made possible by a variety of factors. We have few geographic and topological limits to development. We subsidize new development through collective provision of basic infrastructure such as highways, water systems, sewer systems, and utility connections. We undervalue or fail to value altogether environmental open space, air quality, water quality and high quality agricultural soils. These factors lead to a relatively low housing cost for a single-family home. Housing costs of an existing single family home in Kansas City are lower than the national average. The median sales price of an existing single family home is 78.9 percent of the US median (NAR 2017). Our housing costs might be low, but most households have to invest and maintain a car to facilitate their quality of life. Households without cars are limited either to the small parts of the metro with regular transit service or the relatively high cost taxi and car sharing services. The Center for Neighborhood Technology has produced an index that combines transportation and housing costs to create a common basis of comparison (Center for Neighborhood Technology 2017).
In the 21st Century research shows that low-density automobile dependent development is connected to issues of public health such as air pollution and obesity (Frumkin, Frank and Jackson 2004; Ewing et. Al 2014 for example). Increasing animate forms of transportation such as walking and biking requires development of complete streets that provide for these modes of transit and connect from residents and workplaces to popular destinations.
These conditions then have created a transportation problem for Kansas City. How do we increase transportation choices in Kansas City while continuing to provide quick and convenient access for most Kansas City residents who are used to auto dependence? Changes in demographics, transportation preferences and transportation technologies may also influence what will be possible in the next 20 years. How will Kansas City retrofit our current mode of development to increase transportation choice while accounting for smart transportation systems necessary for autonomous vehicles? How do retrofit for trails and bikeways? Will individual car ownership drop as we move to autonomous car share systems? How can we make mode switching and transit transfer as convenient as possible? As a part of regional transportation planning, the Mid America Regional Council has produced a transit plan — Smart Moves, 3.0 that addresses these issues. We will spend this semester addressing one aspect of this plan – the Mobility Hub.