The City Council Committee of the Whole gave its endorsement to a plan to add on-street parking and reduce through traffic lanes along College Boulevard between Metcalf and Nall last night.
Starting with a study
City Council began considering a “road diet” for College Boulevard after adopting the OP Central College and Metcalf Study, a master planning process that analyzed workplace and community needs of the College and Metcalf area.
The planning process for this study involved public meetings with residents, businesses and others along and near the roadway.
The study addresses accessibility and parking, land use, zoning and economic development, hospitality, culture, and potential events and activities in the area, and called for increased parking and creating a walkable mixed-use destination along College Boulevard.
Traffic counts
College Boulevard is currently a six-lane boulevard between Metcalf and Nall. Heading east into Leawood or west into Lenexa, it drops to four lanes.
The most recent traffic counts show about 17,000 vehicles travel this street east of Metcalf every day. That’s approximately 33 percent of the capacity for a six-lane street, and 50 percent of the capacity for a four-lane street.
“If it is found that the lane reductions are having a greater than anticipated impact or redevelopment occurs at a higher level than currently projected, the lane reduction can be removed during the next road maintenance cycle,” said Jack Messer, director of Planning and Development Services.
Making the change
This section of College Boulevard was already scheduled for mill and overlay work in 2020. During this project, two traffic lanes in each direction will be striped, along with a buffer space, and a parking lane in the area that currently serves the outer-most through driving lane. The change will add about 100 on-street parking spots.
More Details
Learn more about the traffic study by reading the executive summary, as presented in the Committee of the Whole agenda.