Kansas City.com: We’re on the right path to connecting the trails

Northland planners clearly understand that biking paths and walking trails enhance recreational activities and daily life. In Kearney, trails are part of new housing developments, and planners are working on a linked system. Parkville and Riverside are cooperating on a 2.5 mile segment along the Missouri River. Clay County is adding to its extensive system at Smithville Lake.Those are just a few of the Northland developments that regional planners are praising. Others were detailed in The Star’s Progress Edition, published on Wednesday.

“There’s an incredible amount of work going on, a lot of energy and interest,” said Marlene Nagel, director of community development for the Mid-America Regional Council.

But the real test of the Northland trail system will be the eventual sum of all its disparate parts. Communities and governments should cooperate on ways to build and connect the pathways.

Kansas City needs to catch up to Platte and Clay counties, both of which have made considerable progress in the last couple of years, especially on connector trails — paths that link neighborhoods, cities and amenities.

It’s good news that planners for the Department of Parks and Recreation are hard at work on blueprints for trails in Kansas City, North. The challenge will be mustering the willpower and dollars to get the plans off the drawing board.

Also, cyclists and joggers from south of the river still need a safe way to get to the Northland.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has agreed to build a bicycle-pedestrian lane on the Heart of America Bridge by 2012. And it is considering adding a bicycle-pedestrian lane to its Paseo Bridge reconstruction project.

Both bridges should have safe, designated lanes for cyclists and pedestrians. That would allow more people to enjoy the Northland’s blossoming trails network.