Woodland Plaza
Woodland Plaza: Planning Equitable Mobility
The Woodland Plaza Equitable Mobility Study is a set of strategies that helps the people who visit or live in the area move from place to place more easily. Woodland Plaza is the diverse area centered on Independence Avenue and Woodland Avenue. The Woodland Plaza Equitable Mobility Study draws together the major organizations and institutions in the area to understand their program priorities and mobility needs, and facilitate informed decision-making on mutually beneficial solutions. This process produced a set of shared strategies that prioritize users facing the greatest barriers and needs.
The Woodland Plaza Equitable Mobility Study process built upon recent public engagement in the area: Independence Avenue BRT (2019), Smart Moves (ongoing), Bike Plan KC (2019), and BikeWalkKC’s mobility study with area schools.
This study utilized a multi-sector Focus Group methodology to bring diverse perspectives together to find commonly held values and desired outcomes for mobility challenges in the study area. This face-to-face small group dialogue creates conditions that can cultivate lasting relationships and generate shared understanding for a strategy implementation network.
Each group was asked to describe their organizations’ goals, projects, or programs in the area, and the mobility needs of their community members. Each participant in the Focus Groups created a Journey Map for a person served by their organization. This exercise detailed some of the barriers, questions and opportunities for a better experience. The mobility needs that were shared by these groups fit five major categories:
- Safety
- Access to Destinations
- Low Barrier User Experience
- High-Quality Environment
- Education
Through three phases a set of draft strategies were created in response to the focus group input. The focus groups were reconvened to review and provide feedback. After the set of strategies were refined for a third time they were presented along with the near team implementation pathways to the advisory committee for review and feedback. The table below shows an overview of the strategies. Click on the image for a PDF version.
More info on this study and on individual strategies can be found at ridekc.org/planning.
