In response to recent accidents and concerns from Corinth Elementary parents about safer streets, the Leawood City Council approved a lane restructuring for 103rd Street on Dec. 3. In addition, the Leawood Public Works department plans to present a project to the City Council in January involving new sidewalks along 83rd Street.
Current narrow sidewalks paired with the heavy traffic are the root of parents’ concerns, according to Corinth Elementary School parent Leah Maugans, who has been advocating for change with other parents in the community since her son was hit by a car years ago.
“As you're driving by, you can see kids falling into the street, because it's a volume issue,” Maugans said. “There are pedestrians and so many different modes of transportation and not any designated spots for them. That's kind of where the whole concern came up.”
At least 15 times in the past five years, someone walking or riding a scooter or bicycle in Leawood has been struck or endangered by a moving vehicle, according to Strong Towns — a non-profit that advocates for safe cities. Three of those incidents have happened in the past three months, one of which was a fatal accident involving 10-year-old Duke Ommert in October.
The majority of these accidents have been happening at or near the same locations: 83rd Street, 103rd Street and Lee Boulevard, all of which are common routes for kids traveling to school at Brookwood Elementary and Corinth Elementary.
The Leawood City Council already had money in the budget to make changes to 83rd Street, according to City Council member Debrah Filla. But due to parent concerns, the city is changing the original plan and redesigning the street to be more pedestrian-friendly by narrowing the street to 29 feet wide and making all the sidewalks at least five feet wide, compared to the original four feet.
Filla and Maugans believe this design change is important because the city of Leawood’s infrastructure was not originally designed for pedestrians and the streets have not been updated for decades. Heavier, faster and larger cars, as well as the rise of children driving electric scooters, are contributing to parents' concerns.
“We're trying to accommodate where we are in terms of when this road was built back in the 50s, and the school was built way back,” Filla said. “Everybody's being more active [pedestrians], so that's good news, but now we have to redesign and accommodate this increase in traffic.”
The Leawood City Council Public Works department has been in communication with the Prairie Village City Council when making these plans, to allow for diverse input and ensure a smooth transition between the cities.
The Leawood City Council also plans for a “road diet” on 103rd Street, converting the four-lane road to a three-lane road with one lane in each direction and a single turning lane in the middle, along with adding a bike lane to serve as a buffer for pedestrians.
Brookwood Elementary School parent Liz Monahan has been part of a group of parents attending city council meetings to share concerns about pedestrian safety. Her three children, all under the age of 12, often walk along 103rd Street to get to school, and the heavy traffic has been a concern of Monahan’s since moving to Leawood.
“I mean, that's the goal, right? Is that we give kids freedom to wobble [on the sidewalk]?” Monahan said. “Kids are going to misstep, they're going to break wrong on a bike. That should not come at the cost of their life.”
The Ommert family established the DoLikeDuke Foundation last month to raise awareness for pedestrian safety in the Leawood area. The foundation celebrated the city’s actions to improve safety on 103rd Street on an Instagram post earlier this month.
“The city heard the calls for safer sidewalks and streets,” the Instagram post read.
Even before Ommert’s accident, Corinth’s parents were raising concerns about their children traveling on 83rd Street. Corinth principal Kasey Weishaar, concerned parents and Leawood and Prairie Village city officials held a meeting at Corinth Elementary on the Wednesday before Ommert’s accident to discuss the issue.
“It's great to see Prairie Village and Leawood working together along with different organizations to really take this issue seriously,” Weishaar said. “I think people want safety for kids, and I think they're willing to work together. That's the biggest value of this. People are having conversations, and there are actually outcomes that are happening.”
According to Filla, the hope is that the construction will start early next year and be over around the fall of 2026. The city is also still open to exploring additional pedestrian protections along busier streets. Parents like Maugans and Monahan also want some faster actions, such as lowering speed limits, installing pedestrian islands and greater visibility lines.
“For anyone in the [SM] East feeder pattern, we all live in different municipalities, but we’re all one county,” Maugans said. “The more that we look at our transportation system, so that's walking, biking and stuff like that, as a county issue, and all of us together, it would help connect us so much.”