Cyclists feared section of KC road without bike lane before father of 10 was killed
When Charles Criniere, a middle school teacher and Kansas City father to 10 took up bicycling about a year ago, he asked his friend Athol Barnes to come along. They started biking the Longview Lake loop together.
Barnes, an avid cyclist, was happy to see the expansion of bicycle lanes in the area in recent years. But there remained one section of the about 10-mile loop that always made him nervous.
It was in this stretch, void of a bike path, that Criniere was struck by a car and killed in late August. For some of his friends and fellow cyclists, Criniere’s death is one of their worst fears come true, illustrating what they believe may be a fatal flaw in the road’s design which forces cyclists to exit the existing bike lane and merge with traffic where the bike lane ends.
Barnes, who has been riding the lake loop for about a decade, is among a handful of cyclists who told The Star they hope to see the bicycle path expanded and the road improved.
”What’s it going to take for the resources to be allocated to fix that?” Barnes asked. “We want a community that’s healthy, we want a community that’s exercising.”
A teacher and ‘encourager’: KC cyclist, father of 10 killed in hit-and-run remembered
The end of the bicycle path
Nearly a year ago, Criniere texted a picture of a bike he found on Facebook Marketplace to Barnes, senior pastor at Grace Point Baptist Church, where Criniere was a deacon.
It was a good deal, Barnes confirmed. Criniere bought it and they started cycling together on Saturdays at Longview Lake. The earlier the better for Criniere, who liked to be home before his kids, who range in age from just shy of 2 to 20 years old, woke up.
Their rides featured constant conversation about the things that mattered most in life to Criniere, Barnes said: Family, faith, youth, his eighth grade math students at Martin City K8.
“He was selfless in every word and every action that he did,” Barnes said. “And he was someone who gave of himself.”
Friends said he used the early morning rides as quiet time away from the busy life he so loved. It was a chance to reflect. Saturday, Aug. 27 was no exception.
At about 6:15 a.m. that day, Kansas City police were called to the site of a crash on View High Drive near the intersection of Longview Road, by Metropolitan Community College’s Longview campus.
Criniere was declared dead at the scene. Police are still looking for the driver who struck him before fleeing in what police believe to be a white Acura MDX. As of Tuesday, no update into the investigation was publicly available, Kansas City police said.
In his nearly four decades of bicycling experience, Barnes said he’s had many close calls himself. He understands that a big part of the solution is reducing distracted driving, but it’s not the only solution, he said.
Sure, he’s heard some drivers complain that cyclists should be relegated to sidewalks.
“But the reality is ... it’s safest to be on the road, on the pavement,” he said, adding that he’s glad to see the city make an effort to expand more bike lanes around the metro.
But more still needs to be done, he said.
As cyclists approach the intersection of SW Longview Road from the north, along View High Drive, the bicycle lane runs out just past the intersection of East 109th Street, forcing cyclists to merge onto the road with drivers.
In the area of the merger near where Criniere was killed, the pavement is also uneven, creating an additional hazard for bicycle tires, Barnes said.
Ryan Corrigan, an avid cyclist from Grandview, has the same concerns.
Corrigian, a close friend of Criniere’s for the past 16 years, bikes the Longview Lake loop nearly every day, passing the spot where his friend was killed.
He has to check over his shoulder every time he merges near the site of Criniere’s crash.
“I’ve seen hundreds of cyclists do the same thing. They merge into traffic and have to finish that last couple hundred yards down to the light actually in the road rather than on the shoulder,” he said. “It’s vital that that spot gets fixed.”
Kansas City is in the process of building more bicycle lanes as part of Vision Zero, a city initiative with the goal with ending traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
The improvements are set for all over the city. A five-year “conceptual” bike facility implementation plan posted by Public Works suggests improvements to the area around Longview Lake. Included in this is the expanded bicycle lane along East 109th Street from Raytown Road to View High Drive.
But the bike lanes stop at the intersection of East 109th Street and View High Drive. According to the city’s posted five-year plan, there are not intentions of expanding the path south on View High Drive, toward SW 3rd Street, the same stretch where Criniere was killed.
Sherae Honeycutt, a spokeswoman for Kansas City’s Public Works Department, said in an email Wednesday morning that the city would be open to a conversation with the city of Lee’s Summit about the possibility of installing more bicycle lanes in the area.
“The City of Lee’s Summit does not have bike lane infrastructure on SW 3rd Street or continuing onto SW Longview Road. To install bike lanes in this area would require the roadway to be engineered for safety transitioning between the municipalities,” she said. “KCMO Public Works is open to and available for a collaborative discussion wherein bike lane upgrades could be implemented with the City of Lee’s Summit.”
A spokesperson for the city of Lee’s Summit could not immediately be reached for comment.
The memorial ride
On Saturday, Jeremy “JC” Van Deventer rode ten 10-mile laps around Longview Lake: one for each child of Charles Criniere, 43, who was killed in a bicycle crash in the same area one week earlier.
He never met Criniere, who was a middle school teacher in Grandview, a deacon, a husband and a father, but Van Deventer has friends who’ve been killed on the road. He decided to mobilize the cycling community with a memorial ride.
“It strikes all too close to home,” Van Deventer said. “That road that he was hit on, there’s probably 10,000 times a year a bicycle rides on it.”
The ride he’s organizing, called “Bright Lights for Charlie,” is scheduled for Sept. 17.
“We want to thank Charlie for everything he’s done in his life,” Van Deventer said. “He’s got a lot of bright lights he left behind.”
More than a dozen cyclists rode up to Tuesday morning’s news conference at Longview Lake Beach. Among the small crowd gathered to watch the conference was the widow of Michael Forbes, a cyclist killed in 2012 when a car hit his back tire as he rode along U.S. Highway 24 in Levasy, also in Jackson County.
The details of the ride were announced. Bicyclists have the opportunity to travel anywhere from 10 to 100 miles, completing 10-mile loops. Each loop will pass the section of road where Criniere was killed and a memorial, complete with a white bicycle, now stands.
Jackson County Parks + Rec is also partnering with the event.
The ride, which will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, will bring an estimated 500 cyclists together, event organizers said. The route will begin at Longview Lake Beach, at 11101 Raytown Road.
Donations are being accepted in lieu of a registration fee. The money will go toward expenses such as mortgage, utility bills, maintenance and food, Van Deventer said. A GoFundMe has also been set up to help the family, for which Criniere was the sole financial provider.
Jordan Miller, a local cyclist who just returned from a national tour in Panama, said his appreciation for Kansas City’s cycling community has only grown as he’s watched the outpouring of love and support directed toward Criniere’s family.
He hopes the memorial ride brings people out in full force.
“It’s a good opportunity to show the world what’s special about our community,” he said.
