pedestrians

For the last five years, Kansas City has been transforming street infrastructure and redesigning roads through the Vision Zero program. Advocates applaud the progress, but want to see even more money dedicated to underserved neighborhoods.

Missouri residents today have even less say in their transportation needs. Last year, Gov. Mike Kehoe slashed the state’s Transit Operating Investment nearly in half, reducing funding to local public transit agencies.

Kansas City is using a $5 million grant to study how to reconnect communities torn apart by Highway 71. Commuters, residents, and urban planners continue to debate between multiple possibilities that could transform nearby neighborhoods and traffic in the area.

So far this year, 128 pedestrians have been killed in Missouri — a troubling increase over the same period in 2024, which was already the deadliest on record.

The Kansas City Council approved traffic restrictions to keep kids safer on the road after a driver hit and killed a child last month. The ordinance prohibits right turns on red in school zones during school hours.

Gladstone Elementary students received more than 400 bike helmets and traffic safety training after a second-grader was struck by a car while riding his scooter. It's one of the latest efforts to keep children safer on the road.

The student at Ingels Elementary School in south Kansas City was on her bicycle in a marked crosswalk and had a green signal when she was fatally struck by a vehicle, according to the Kansas City Police Department.

A new research project at the University of Missouri is looking to make streets less dangerous for everyone through lidar technology. The state recorded a historic high for pedestrian deaths last year.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says that 148 pedestrians were struck and killed on the state's roadways last year, 16% more than the year before.

The city will hire a consultant to decide how to best improve its deadliest streets. It will also apply for a federal grant to redo the majority of Troost Avenue.

Kansas City set a goal to end all traffic fatalities by 2030. The Vision Zero program has worked block by block to make roads throughout the city safer, but officials say it needs more money to reach its goals.

Many of Kansas City's four-lane roads are too fast and too empty. The city plans to slim down many of its most dangerous stretches, like Troost Avenue, 39th Street and Independence Avenue, to curb vehicle and pedestrian accidents.