OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — On average, 18 bicyclists are involved in a crash with a vehicle every year in Overland Park, Kansas.
The statistics from the city’s bicycle master plan show of the 19 crashes from October 2015 to October 2016, only one occurred in a marked bike route. So this week, the city council approved adding more bike lanes.
The idea is to help bicyclists and drivers feel more comfortable sharing the roads.
The nearly $350,000 project will add lanes on roads like Switzer and Lamar south of Interstate 435 over the next few months. In total, the city hopes to add close to 70 miles of new bike lanes.
The city says about 80 percent of the $350,000 comes from federal funding sources.
In 2018, the city created roughly 30 miles of bike lanes around the downtown area. Both bike lane additions are part of concepts laid out in the city’s bicycle master plan which it has been implementing since 2016.
