The city of Roeland Park is eyeing six spots along Roe Boulevard to install covered bus benches.
In a meeting last month, the Roeland Park City Council voted 7-0 to approve the locations for six covered bus benches, which the city council hopes can provide shelter from the elements for public transportation users. Councilmember Jen Hill was absent.
While the city council narrowed down the locations — five of which are on Roe Boulevard — the city council directed city staff to continue researching bus bench and shelter options that fit the city.
Where are the bus bench shelters going?
The city council agreed to focus on the northern and southern parts of Roe Boulevard — the commercial districts of the city — for the six bus bench shelters.
The following bus stops are where a bench and shelter will be placed:
- The southbound side of 48th Street and Roe Boulevard, which saw an average daily ridership of five people between Jan. 1 and May 5.
- The northbound side of 48th Street and Roe Boulevard, which saw an average daily ridership of four people between Jan. 1 and May 5.
- The southbound and northbound sides of 51st Street and Roe Boulevard, which both saw an average daily ridership of eight people between Jan. 1 and May 5.
- In front of Sunflower Medical Group’s building at 5675 Roe Blvd., which saw an average daily ridership of one person between Jan. 1 to May 5.
- If possible, a shelter to go around a bench outside of Commerce Bank and Saint Luke’s Community Hospital at 4720 Johnson Drive, which also saw an average daily rider between Jan. 1 and May 5.
Staff presented 3 covered bench options
- Public Works Director Donnie Scharff presented three covered bench options for bus stops to the city council on May 19, with costs ranging from around $50,000 to $75,000 for six shelters and benches.
- Two of the three options are relatively standard covered benches, with three sides and a roof made out of aluminum framing and tempered glass.
- The third option uses recycled wind turbine blades for arched or triangular shelters over smaller benches.
- Scharff said more options are available, but the ones presented kept the $50,000 allocated in the budget in mind.
- Additionally, Scharff said all three companies say they are compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. Still, Scharff said he asked the wind turbine company to confirm whether the benches can be pushed back to allow for a wheelchair user to fit under the protective cover.
The city council is no longer considering the wind turbine option
- After some discussion, the city council agreed against going with the wind turbine options.
- Councilmembers Matthew Lero and Benjamin Dickens both said they like the aesthetics of the wind turbine option, but Dickens said he thinks the option is impractical for users with other needs, though, which is why he leaned toward the other options.
- Lero said he believes the city should love whichever covered bench is installed, and suggested the city work on location placement and easement acquisition while searching for a different vendor.
- Councilmember Tom Madigan said, in opposition to the wind turbine option, that he believes the city needs to accommodate mothers with strollers and people in wheelchairs. The wind turbine option is also ineffective for total protection from the elements, he said.
- “It’s about protection from the elements,” Madigan said. “You have to remember, we’re in the Midwest. We get rain, snow, hail.”
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