A stretch of Lee Boulevard between 81st Street and 103rd Street now has a lower speed limit in the latest effort by Leawood officials to address parents’ demands for pedestrian safety.
The council unanimously voted last week to lower the speed limit from 35 to 30 miles an hour, beginning Friday, Feb. 20, with the intent to review the effects in six months to decide if the limit needs to be lowered even further.
Speed limits, crosswalks, helmets and signals have been at the top of the council’s to-do list for the past few months, since the death of 10-year-old Duke Ommert in October. Duke was hit by a car while riding an electric scooter on Lee Boulevard.
Since then, parents have regularly brought their suggestions on safer streets to council meetings, and the council has begun to take action, recently requiring helmets for youths operating electric scooters and bikes.
Duke Ommert’s father presses for more stringent safety measures
Parents were at the council’s Feb. 16 meeting, as well, some urging the speed limit on Lee to be lowered to 25 miles an hour and sidewalks be added on the east side of the street. Currently, Lee only has sidewalks on the west side.
Ryan Ommert, Duke’s father, said at the meeting that higher speeds and the lack of safe crossings put his son at a disadvantage as he attempted to cross the street when he was struck and killed.
Ommert said while he is thankful for the work city officials have done so far to make streets safer, he is “thoroughly disappointed” by the decision not to include all types of vehicles, including non-electric bikes and scooters, under the new helmet rule.
He added that he would like to see more support for a lower speed limit on Lee, especially as the area gets ready for traffic from World Cup visitors this summer.
“I can’t help but ask myself, ‘Why does it seem like we’re only going halfway on things that need to be changed?’” he said.
Traffic standards, “should be set on what protects the most vulnerable, not what is easiest for the most powerful.”
Six other people also spoke on Feb. 16 in support of more robust pedestrian infrastructure.
Historic opposition to sidewalks along Lee
Councilmembers at first called for a temporary lowering of the speed limit on Lee, in order to collect data on its effectiveness. But Police Chief Brad Robbins said temporary changes in speed limits can give drivers the impression that they are created as speed traps.
Before the vote, some councilmembers clarified that they would still look at the data, but had no expectation that the speed would be raised back up.
Sidewalks on the east side of the street would be a longer-range, more complicated proposition, said David Ley, the city’s director of public works.
Ley said the idea to add sidewalks to both sides of Lee was first floated in the 1980s, at a time when there were none. The idea upset neighbors so much that officials compromised with sidewalks on only one side, he said.
Ley added that adding east-side sidewalks would require an engineering study, curbs and regrading of the soil.
Councilmember Lisa Harrison said problems with heavy, fast-moving traffic on Lee Boulevard date back to the way the streets were designed 75 years ago, when there were fewer cars per household and not as many people.
Lee became a main thoroughfare at least partly because there are no straight streets that enable traffic to cut through from Mission Road to Lee, she said.
Councilmembers said lowering the limit was a “common sense” solution and before voting, added a requirement that residents along the street with vegetation that blocks traffic signs and driveway sight lines should be required to remove it.
Other road safety measures also approved
The speed limit was not the only issue the council took on Monday, Feb. 16.
They also approved an update of a previously planned work along 83rd Street from the west city limits to State Line Road.
The work, in the capital improvement plan since 2022, widens the scope of the project to make the street more pedestrian-friendly, including widening sidewalks from four feet to a minimum of five feet, signal replacement at Lee Boulevard and upgraded accessible ramps for handicap accessibility.
The changes will mean an increase in the budget from the original $5.3 million to $6.6 million, Ley said.
In order to make for a smoother transition from Prairie Village into Leawood, near Corinth Elementary School, the city is collaborating with Prairie Village, he added. The budget is only for Leawood’s share of the project.
Councilmembers unanimously okayed the 83rd Street work as well as changes in the crosswalk and signals at Brookwood Elementary on 103rd Street.
Because of safety issues with the school drop-off patterns, staff recommended removing the existing midblock traffic signal and crosswalk directly in front of the school and putting in three crosswalks on the north, south and east sides of the intersection of 103rd and Pawnee Lane.
The intersection would also get full traffic signals rather than a High Intensity Activated Crosswalk (or HAWK) signal that has previously been considered. The traffic signals would show red in all directions as well as “no right turn” during pedestrian crossings.
