I'm frankly terrified to ride my bike on public roads here.
The issue of safe biking gained significant local attention in 2006 when a celebrity was killed less than a mile up the street at our gas station. A hometown skilled biker and critically-acclaimed supermodel was biking near an intersection and was killed by a semi, when the gas station's fuel tanker turned the corner, and she was run over after striking the curb and thrown under the semi (reportedly) -- if she was forced into the curb is unclear to my knowledge:
KCBike.Info Article with Links to Accident Investigation
Wikipedia Link, Audrey Lindvall
Our 2-lane, main East-West highway has been completely reconstructed (M-150 Highway) to a 4-lane parkway-style road. Most of it is in a rural area which enters the Southern end of the city limits here. There is no bike lane (no shoulder on either side), blind crests, 45MPH with faster drivers and distracted vehicle operators. Just "share the road" signs. No improvement was made for biking; but -- part of construction included a nice road-side, paved trail. The highway itself has dangerous spots if partial lane change for passing is needed.
So when I dust-off the bike, I head for the large sidewalk/trails. I still use neighborhood streets and cross the highway with traffic-light protection to get there.
Still, the side-streets aren't that safe either. Especially with distracted driving, new teenage drivers, texting, land yachts with inexperienced operators, etc. Typical urban sprawl car culture. KC is like LA in land area size, yet very different population density. The reliance of driving and a lack of significant network of public transit forces 30+ minute drives to get to friends and family on the average. The airport commute is 52 miles, and about 50 minutes. To take a bus: drive 6 miles, park in the commuter/park-and-ride, which has 5 trips a day, limited to a connection downtown from about 6am to 6pm (not flight-schedule friendly and would triple travel time to 3 hours). Arrive late? You're stranded or have to pay for a shuttle van with MPGPP average with total shared ride not equivalent to 34 MPG which is my trip average. That's what we have.
RH77