On Monday, during a discussion of the project — which is still years away from being started — councilmembers seemed in favor of preserving residents’ property lines, which could lead to a pared-back version of a plan intended to make Midland Drive more pedestrian- and bike-friendly.

Plan would add bike lanes and shared-use path

• A plan presented Monday to the city council would keep the road two lanes but would add four-foot bike lanes on either side of the street.
• It would also add a single 10-foot paved shared-use path, plus six feet of green space dividing the path from the road.
• Currently, that stretch of Midland is unimproved and mostly two lanes without sidewalks, surrounded by ditches on either side.
• Motorists often speed along Midland to get between the highway and busy Shawnee Mission Parkway.

There’s broad support for improvements

• During the Shawnee City Council committee meeting Monday, most public speakers and councilmembers agreed that something had to be done to make Midland safer.
• “It scares me to death,” Peter Jarchow, a member of the city’s bicycle advisory committee, said of the current state of Midland for bicyclists and pedestrians. “I highly applaud this as a project. I think it will make it much safer.”
• However, several neighbors were worried that the design presented would encroach too much on their properties, taking away front and side lots.
• Dena Fischer, who lives in the nearby Forest Rowe neighborhood, agreed that Midland is “terrifying” for walkers and bike riders but worried the plans as presented went too far.
• “The larger picture is the homeowners are going to be severely impacted,” she said, suggesting it be scaled down.

Federal funds require ‘complete street’ design

• The $4 million in federal money earmarked for the project, distributed through the Mid-America Regional Council, would require a certain amount of pedestrian and bike-friendly improvements.
• The city council seemed in favor of leaving that money on the table and doing away with or minimizing the 10-foot walking path that is part of the design.
• Council president Eric Jenkins said he was “sensitive” both to the neighbors’ concerns and safety issues, suggesting they go with a “diet version” of the plan as a compromise.
• Councilmember Jacklynn Walters said she’d been asking for a pared back proposal for months that would satisfy the need to make the road safer without sacrificing too much residential property.
• A formal vote was not taken Monday night.

The Midland project is still a few years off

• The project is currently scheduled for 2025 or 2026 in the city’s capital improvement project list.
• In all, the city’s plans for the project initially projected a $12.5 million expense, about half of which would be covered by the city.
• Now, city engineering staff will be looking to scale the plans back to about $8.5 million so as not to increase the city’s expense with the likelihood that the federal money won’t be used.
• Other concept designs for the project — including a previously recommended alternative — can be found here.

There’s potential for other outside funding

• The city could also receive up to $2 million in support from the Johnson County Assistance Road System program, or CARS, for the Midland project.
• That county money would have fewer strings attached than the MARC funding.
• That won’t be decided until closer to the project’s physical construction phase.

Related news: After months of back and forth, Shawnee lands on new city brand

But the future of that plan is now unclear.