Limited speed limits among the rules for Bird Scooters, coming to Olathe on this date

The Olathe Public Schools are adopting a security alert system that will allow all staff members to call for help by pushing a button on a badge that they wear.

“We believe that this simple tool can have a huge impact on our educators’ and our students’ physical and mental health,” Brent Kiger, the district’s director of safety services, said in a news release. “Regardless of what is happening and wherever they are, we can respond quickly.”

Last March, Olathe East High School was the scene of a shooting that injured an assistant principal, a school resource officer and an 18-year-old student who is charged with attempted capital murder in the incident.

Teachers and other staffers will wear their CrisisAlert badges in addition to their regular ID badges. The button can be pushed for more routine incidents like medical emergencies, giving first responders an exact location for quick response. In a crisis situation, a campus-wide lockdown could be initiated at the touch of the button.

In the event of a lockdown, strobe lights would flash and beep in every room and hallway, and instructional messages would be displayed on computers connected to the network. Audio instructions also would come over the intercom system.

The badge provides campus-wide coverage without the need for Wi-Fi, a cellular signal or opening a smartphone app, the school district said. All staff members will be trained on the system before school starts on Aug. 12, with the goal of everyone receiving their badges by the end of September.

Olathe embraces Bird Scooters

Bird Scooters — already part of the transportation menu in Prairie Village, Overland Park and other places — are now being deployed in Olathe.

Nearly 50 scooters have been scheduled to arrive on July 18, and the number could go as high as 200 if there’s enough demand.

The low-emission scooters can be activated through Bird’s mobile phone app, and riders pay a per-minute charge. They are limited to roadways where the speed limit is no higher than 35 miles an hour, and scooter speeds cannot exceed 17 miles an hour.

Olathe says Bird offers two free 30-minute rides per day to health care workers and emergency personnel, plus 50% discounts to low-income people, veterans, senior citizens and certain community organizations. See the news item at olatheks.org for details.

Speed limits rising on some county roads

New, higher speed limits will be posted by the end of July on 13 roadway segments in unincorporated Johnson County.

Why?

Because many drivers are already blowing through the previous 35 mph limit.

County commissioners approved the changes on June 23 at the behest of the county Sheriff’s Office and the Public Works Department.

To evaluate the speed limits, an engineering study calculated how fast 85% of drivers were going, but also considered safety conditions such as visibility. Most of the new speed limits are going to 45 miles an hour, and a few will be set at 40.

“All the segments, with approved speed limit increases, have significant evidence of non-compliance of the existing 35 mph speed limits by having 85th percentile speeds in the 43 to 54 mph range,” the county said in a news release.

In cases like that, it’s generally safer to raise the speed limit. When some motorists obey the posted limit but most go much faster, the county said, drivers tend to pass each other more often, misjudge how fast other vehicles are going and create other traffic conflicts that increase the risk of accidents.

Then there’s the matter of traffic laws, and what people think about them.

“Routine violation of speed limits by most drivers may breed contempt not only for speed limits but also for other traffic regulations,” the release said. “Public support (i.e., willingness to obey) is closely linked with reasonableness of speed limits.”

When the limit is close to the 85th percentile speed, most people obey on their own and police can concentrate on the worst offenders.

The speed limits will rise to 45 mph on these segments:

▪ Pflumm Road, between 191st and 199th streets.

▪ Pflumm Road, between 199th and 207th streets.

▪ 207th Street, from Switzer Road to Antioch Road.

▪ Cedar Niles Road, between 207th and 199th streets.

▪ 207th Street, from Braun Street west to Evening Star Road.

▪ 207th Street from Evening Star Road to County Line Road.

▪ 183rd Street, from Cedar Niles Road to the S-curve before Moonlight Road.

▪ Moonlight Road, between 119th and 127th streets.

▪ Moonlight Road, between 127th and 135th streets.

▪ Sunflower Road, from 215th Street to Interstate 35.

Limits are going to 40 mph on these stretches:

▪ 159th Street, from Gardner Road to Waverly Road.

▪ Antioch Road, from 207th Street north to the Overland Park city limit.

▪ Gardner West Road, between 151st and 159th streets.

New hospital coming to Lenexa

A new hospital and medical building got a final blessing last month from the Lenexa City Council, which approved a final plan for the AdventHealth Life Campus near 87th Street Parkway and Renner Boulevard in the City Center area.

The five-story hospital and three-story medical building are the first of 11 buildings planned for the campus, city officials said. A parking structure will be built under the hospital, with another for the medical office building.

According to minutes of the June 21 City Council meeting, Mayor Michael Boehm said that members of the community had shared concerns at previous meetings, and the developers responded with revisions including reduced building height.

OP seeks volunteers to guide planning effort

Overland Park is looking for community members to help direct its comprehensive planning process.

Residents, visitors, business owners and others have until Aug. 3 to apply online for a volunteer position on the steering committee.

“We need all types of people and perspectives at the table,” Mayor Curt Skoog said in a news release. “Strong representation from all corners of Overland Park will help us understand unique challenges and opportunities our community will take on in the future.”

To find the application link, look for the news announcement at opkansas.org. Those who cannot dedicate regular time to the project will be able to weigh in at public meetings and through online forms.

Kids catching up on academics

The Gardner Edgerton School District has embarked on a new summer program, called Kick Start, where students spend eight days in July reviewing concepts from their previous year of schooling.

“Kick Start is designed to assist students that have gaps in learning to be better prepared for the beginning of the 2022-23 school year,” the district said on its website.

The morning sessions, at the students’ home school for the upcoming academic year, were scheduled from July 18-21 and July 25-28 for students going into grades one through eight. The cost to parents is $20.

Aquatic center reduces hours

Because of staffing shortages, the Spring Hill Aquatic Center has reduced its hours of operation for the rest of the season, which ends Aug. 14. The previous hours were noon to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays and holidays. As of July 11, the new hours were set at noon to 6 p.m. daily. Morning activities, including swim lessons and river walking, are still at the original times. The evening river walking session is from 6 to 6:45 p.m.

Gardner residents can monitor power usage online

Gardner has launched a new web-based portal called intelaHome to help customers manage and monitor their energy usage more efficiently.

IntelaHome can provide real-time information on energy consumption patterns and let customers create a personal profile to automatically optimize energy usage based on consumption patterns and utility rate schedules.

The city operates its own water and energy utility.

School supplies mitigate traffic fines

Do you owe money to Olathe Municipal Court for a traffic infraction or parking violation?

By making a school supply donation worth $15, you can drop $50 from the cost of resolving the matter, but you must bring your receipt with the donations to the court.

The program, which runs through Aug. 12, will help the Olathe Public Schools Foundation meet its goal of providing more than 2,200 backpacks for the neediest students.

Requested items include 17- to 18-inch backpacks, sticky notes, markers, No. 2 pencils, 1-inch 3-ring binders, scissors, spiral notebooks, colored pencils, dry erase markers, glue sticks and glue bottles.

Donations also are accepted outside the court program. Visit OlathePublicSchoolsFoundation.org for more information.

Traffic headaches on K-10

Watch for lane closures and other traffic disruptions as the Kansas Department of Transportation repairs a number of bridges on Kansas 10 highway.

Affected areas include westbound bridges at Evening Star Road, Sunflower Road, Lexington Avenue, Kill Creek, Camp Creek and Cedar Creek, plus eastbound bridges at Cedar Creek Road and Cedar Creek Parkway.

The work, which began July 11, will continue through early December.

The Lexington Avenue bridge will require demolition, scheduled from 8 p.m. July 29 through 5 a.m. Aug. 1, which will close Lexington Avenue at K-10. Starting July 25, the westbound K-10 to Lexington Avenue exit ramp will close for the duration of the project.