TKC BREAKING NEWS!!! KANSAS CITY TRANSIT ACTIVIST CLAY CHASTAIN PROPOSES 'RAPID' STREETCAR EXPANSION FIX WITH NEW PETITION EFFORT!!!

Check the latest transit initiative from Kansas City's most prolific activist that threatens to compete with streetcar expansion designs already underway.

Take a look:

Chastain submits overview and rational behind new transit (rapid streetcar) initiative petition



The problem with the city’s current 2.2- mile downtown streetcar system is that it travels too slow, stops too often, runs in traffic, and does not go where people need better transit. Otherwise, who could not love it?

The new rail initiative petition (aimed for the 2017 KCMO ballot) will seek to expand the city’s problematic downtown streetcar system across the city and also transform how it operates.

The newly proposed rapid streetcar system will operate primarily in dedicated right-of-ways separated from traffic thus enabling it to achieve speeds of 45 mph. The design also calls for far fewer stops further enabling the new streetcar system to be a rapid and convenient people mover. The streetcar right-of-ways will utilize the center of wide city streets, the grassy medians of wide city boulevards, park land that we have lots of, and also travel on existing right-of-ways.

This innovative design will also dramatically reduce the construction costs of Kansas City’s new rapid streetcar system by…not having to tear up and rebuild as many city streets; not having to bear the great expense of relocating as many underground utilities, and not having to construct as many rail stops.

What’s more, this plan to build the city a more comprehensive and rapid streetcar system is the bargain of the century because… not only will it combine beauty with utility to attract a whole new legion of transit users, improve the city’s quality of life and help Kansas City secure federal dollars to help us build it, but this rapid streetcar system will also dual as a catalyst for creating new jobs, investments, economic development, and growing the city’s population.

The plan also calls for a quiet low-emission express bus system to connect the northern terminus of the streetcar line (in the vicinity of the central northland around Vivion Rd.) to Kansas City International Airport and the City’s new Twin Creeks Neighborhood.

The same express bus system will also connect passengers from the rapid streetcar system's southern terminus (the Kansas City Zoo) to Cerner's new Campus at Bannister and beyond.

A mini-electric shuttle bus system and expanded bikeway network will make it easier for people to get to and from the farther spaced out streetcar stops.

* The rail tracks into the northland and the rail tracks from Union Station to the Jackson County Sports Complex will be constructed to accommodate bigger heavier light rail trains in the event those two lines are needed in the future to extend to suburban areas where higher capacity light rail trains will be required to handle the increased passenger load.
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